The Day Before You
by Ms-Maggs
Summary: In a lab full of rats and investigative geniuses, it’s hard to keep a secret. They all think they know the truth, but does anyone really have ALL the answers? Sequel to Where You Are. Couples:NickGreg,GSR. A relationship drama comedy! Plus:Lab Rats,YoBlin
1. Chapter 1: Family Matters

**Summary – In a lab full of rats and investigative geniuses, it's hard to keep a secret. They all think they know the truth, but does anyone really have ALL the answers? A WIP with a new 6000 word chapter at least weekly. **

**(NOTE: This story is the sequel to ****Where You Are**** and picks up exactly where that story left off. It is highly recommended that you read the stories in order or you'll be missing an enormous amount of character backstory and relationship development. )**

**Rating - T on FF(dot)Net and rated M on my website msmaggs(dot)com**

**Romantic pairings - Nick/Greg and Grissom/Sara are the focus of the story. Catherine/Warrick are together in the story, but they will be minor characters. **

**Other characters - The lab rats (Hodges, Mandy, Wendy, Henry, Archie) are featured from time to time. Greg's parents (Jan and Dave Sanders) and Nick's entire family are also included in the story. **

**Thank you for reading the second half of the story! I hope you enjoy…**

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 1: Family Matters **

Walking into the grocery store with his partner, Nick said, "This was a good call stoppin' here. I'm beat, and once we get home, I won't want to leave, but I know we don't have any food."

Greg patted his belly. "I ate a ton at dinner, but I'm starving again. I guess I'm still in a calorie-deficit from kayaking, hiking and sex. I bet I lost five pounds this week."

"You're already too skinny," Nick remarked while grabbing a cart. Moving close, he joked, "Lose any more and I won't have anything to grab when I'm behind ya."

"It's good that you're joking around and still feeling comfortable with me even though we're back in Vegas. I was afraid you'd panic as soon as we crossed the state line and go back to your old denial-filled self, making me stay ten feet away at all times."

"No PDAs, but I'm cool talkin' to each other about stuff in public…as long as we're not near anyone we know."

"Hey, how do we want to handle the money situation now that we're a couple?"

"Yeah, I guess we have to think about that," Nick remarked as he strolled for the condom aisle to stock up on their favorites.

"I'm not just your roomie anymore, so I don't want to pay you rent and keep our food separate. We should just make it easy and split everything fifty-fifty."

"Yeah, but I can't have you payin' half my mortgage without havin' any ownership. What if somethin' happened to me? You'd have no rights to the place even though you've been payin' in. It would go to my parents the way I have it set up now." Stopping in front of the prophylactic display, Nick scratched his head. "I'm gonna have to change the paperwork and stuff."

"Hey, maybe we should just buy a new place together. I have that money from my dad. If I don't invest a chunk of it, I'll get killed on taxes. We could sell your place and buy a nice house together, one with a private backyard and a Jacuzzi, so we could hot tub naked after work." Tossing jumbo packs of Trojan Twisted Pleasure into their cart, Greg enthused, "I think it's a great idea, what about you, Cletus?"

"I love the idea, G, especially the naked hot tubbing." Nick threw four bottles of lube into the cart. "But how the hell are we gonna explain buyin' a house together when we're not together?"

Greg's excitement faded. "I guess it would look kind of weird."

Pushing the cart toward the frozen food section, Nick pondered the problem.

"We could refinance your mortgage with me matching your investment, so it's fifty-fifty ownership on the townhouse. It would also drastically reduce the monthly payment too, so we'd both have a lot more of our paychecks left over."

"Yeah, but we're still losin' out on the naked hot tubbing. And all joking aside, I like the idea of havin' a private backyard, because then we could get a dog…or a Cambodian orphan," he laughed.

"Hold up."

"I was kiddin' about the Cambodian orphan." Nick stopped in front of the ice cream section to clarify his thoughts. "I thought you liked dogs though."

"I do. Honestly, I might even like a Cambodian orphan or some other kind of kid in the **very distant** future."

"Really?" Nick remarked in surprise. "I didn't think you wanted kids. I guess we've never talked about it for real, so..."

"That's my point here!" Sweetly laughing, Greg pointed to his bracelet. "Of course we haven't talked about this stuff in great detail. We've officially been together for less than a week and we had a lot of catching up to do in the sack. There was no time for talking. I figured the serious talking would come after we got over the new relationship hyper-sexual phase, which I'm personally not planning to get over for at least three or four months, because I'm still pent up from my prolonged hard-up phase." He put it in Nick terms, "All I'm saying is, I didn't think we'd be expanding our family so soon after getting engaged."

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Nick leaned in and quietly said, "The truth is, couples are supposed to talk about this stuff **before** they get engaged. Because how can they get engaged to be married without knowin' they have the same picture of the future?"

"Wow…is that thirty-sixth birthday on the horizon making your biological clock tick all of a sudden?" When Greg saw his partner fluster, he grabbed a gallon of frigid ice cream and handed it over. "Chill out, cowboy. I'm on the same page, but I'm in no rush to get there and I don't think the frozen food section of Albertson's is a good setting for a serious conversation. For the record though, I'm totally cool with getting a dog soon."

"Are you sure? Because we can't divide a dog if things don't work out and I get real attached to pets."

"I'll have my Dad's lawyer draw up a pre-nuptial pet custody agreement granting you sole custody if..."

Nick stuffed his hands on his hips in frustration. "Why are you bein' such a smart ass about this? It's serious."

Greg heatedly whispered, "Because I'm not worried, that's why! I **know** I want to be with you today and twenty years from now, so I don't need a frickin' pet custody agreement. In my head, the damn dog that we don't even have yet, is going to die while we're still together."

"Oh."

"What's wrong now, Cletus?" Greg sighed, when he saw his partner grow more distraught instead of less.

"I'm sad that our dog is gonna die."

"The dog we don't have yet?"

Nick cleared the emotion from his throat. "Yeah."

"Holy shit. I so totally love you," Greg confessed as his eyes lit up. "I mean I knew that, but…wow. We're getting a dog. And our dog is going to die while we're together and our daughters Chanthavy and Sokhanya are going to cry and want to bury him in the backyard."

Cracking a huge grin, Nick said, "Chanthavy and Sokhanya?"

"They mean 'beautiful moon angel' and 'peaceful lady' in Cambodian. My mother told me that when she yanked my chain earlier showing me photographs of her prospective grandkids." Greg laughed, "At least I think she was kidding, but she also gave me a brochure on Rosie's gay family cruise, so maybe not."

After a shared laugh, Nick said, "Wanna buy a house together, G? So we can get a dog soon and maybe somethin' else a few years from now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." The warmth of Greg's smile thawed the frozen food around him. "I'll come up with a good story to tell everyone."

"Okay." Nick felt the last drop of tension leave his body. "I'll spend my two weeks off workin' with a realtor."

"Great." Reaching out, Greg patted his cheek. "You looked a little pale there for a minute. Are you feelin' better?""

"Much." The crisis of confidence suddenly felt silly. "Thanks for puttin' up with my stupid panic attacks."

"It's not…shit." Greg yanked his hand off Nick's cheek and straightened up. "Mandy at nine o'clock."

"Dammit!"

"Sorry, I got caught up in the moment and forgot where we were."

"Do you think she saw you touchin' me?"

"I don't know." Greg whispered, "Just follow my lead."

"Hey, you two!" Mandy hid the pack of Energizer batteries she was holding and forced a cheery tone. "I'm just here to get some Chunky Monkey. Pretty pathetic on a Saturday night, huh? Yeah, just me and a pint of ice cream. I was hanging out with Wendy earlier, but she had a date…everyone has a date, but me apparently." She felt her cheeks flush. "I knew you saw me, so I didn't want to walk away without saying hi. I feel terrible for interrupting what looked like a…um…very personal moment." When her gaze landed on a cart full of condoms and lube, her discomfort grew. "You know what, I have an idea. Let's pretend this meeting never happened. If you guys don't tell anyone I was here buying ice cream for one on my Saturday night off, then I promise not to…"

"Can you give us a minute, Nick?" Greg blurted.

"Yeah, you bet." Breaking into a sweat, Nick rushed away with the cart full of sex supplies. _Of all the grocery stores in Clark Friggin' County, she had to come into mine!_ When he got to the next aisle, he tossed in random items to cover the Trojans and Astroglide.

Five minutes later, Greg found his panicked lover standing in front of the Antacid display. "We're cool. I cleared everything up."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she totally believes we're not together."

"How'd you convince her?" Nick asked as his breathing slowed.

"I told her you were having an emotional moment of self-doubt about your job and I was assuring you that everything would be fine. Then I saw all the condoms and lube in the cart and was counseling you that womanizing your way around Vegas having rough sex with loose women wasn't a good strategy for working out your personal demons."

"That's all it took to convince her?"

"That and…um…I asked her out on a date."

"You what?! Are you out of your god damn mind?! You're not allowed to date women!"

"Shhhh!" Greg reminded his loud mouth partner. "She's still here."

"A date? What kind of a dumb ass plan is that?" Nick snapped.

"It's a **great **plan. We'll go out on one date and it'll suck, so she won't want a second one. When everyone finds out that we dated and I'm a loser, my geek hetero status will be preserved and everyone will resume thinking I'm single because I'm pathetic. Then all you have to do is keep up your womanizing bravado act. With me being a dork and you being a commitment-phobic man-ho, it makes perfect sense that we'd buy a house together, because neither of us will be getting married."

"I don't know, I have a bad feelin' about this plan, G."

"Why? What could go wrong?" When Greg saw Mandy waving to him from the end of the aisle, he returned the gesture. "You worry too much, Cletus."

When Mandy turned the corner, she grabbed her cell phone and sent a text message to Wendy...

**Met Greg at Albertson's.  
He asked me out!!!  
Will you be my Maid of Honor?!  
Imagine how smart our little geek babies will be!**

* * *

When Sara emerged from the shower she wiped the moisture from the bathroom mirror and grabbed her toothbrush. "It's just you and me, Bruno," she yelled into the bedroom. "Want to keep me company while I catch up on what I Tivo'd?" 

Gil had insisted on going into the lab for a few hours to get a jump start on paperwork. He also thought it would be good for him to be seen alone and crabby to squelch any rumors that Hodges might have started. Her plan was to drop a few anti-Grissom comments over the next few days to throw the nosy lab rat off their trail. In no time he'd be back to believing it was Greg that had the hots for her, not Grissom.

"Bruno!" Cinching her robe, she padded into the bedroom. "What the…" The dog's brand new $150 pet bed was covered in vomit. "Bruno! What did you do?!" As she moved closer, the happy hound approached wagging his tail. "What did you eat while I was in the shower?"

Rather than waiting for the dog to speak, the trained CSI examined the evidence. "Oh, shit." Her heart pounding in her chest, she rushed from the room and when she reached the home office, her worst fears were confirmed, "You ate the roaches. I can't believe you ate the roaches! And not just any roaches, the prize-winning Madagascars." Her hand over her gaping mouth, Sara turned to look at the guilty party. "This is bad." She shook her finger. "You're a bad dog, Bruno!"

Sensing a change in his owner's tone, the pooch hung his head and whimpered for forgiveness.

"Don't do that. That's so pathetic." Feeling terrible for yelling, Sara walked over and gave the errant dog a neck rub. "It's not your fault; you didn't know the rules, and we should have pet-proofed the house." Taking a seat next to him, she quietly shared, "My first week in foster care, I broke a lot of rules, not on purpose, I just didn't know the rules of normal living. When you grow up with alcoholic parents, you don't know that it's wrong to eat potato chips for breakfast or go three days without brushing your teeth. You have to be told to brush twice a day and be shown the box of Cheerios, you know? I'm sorry." She hugged the obviously repentant Boxer tight. "I'll smooth things over with the Bugman, okay?" After kissing her pet's face, she rose to her feet. "But first, I'm going to try and salvage your pet bed. I think the suede cover comes off and is hand washable."

* * *

Looking at all the laundry they had piled in the hallway, Nick grumbled, "This is the worst part of comin' home from a vacation, isn't it? Even the stuff you didn't wear you gotta wash, because it smells damp from the ocean." 

"I'll get it all done tonight," Greg offered. "I have to do something to stay awake, so I can sleep during the day tomorrow and get back on track for working nights. You sort it, I'll do it. How's that?"

"I'm gonna have plenty of time to do laundry while you're workin' tomorrow."

Greg glanced over. "Do you have an alternative strategy for keeping me awake tonight?"

After removing the shirt he was wearing and tossing it in the pile, Nick said, "Remember how hot that shower was at the hotel? We couldn't take showers on the boat, because it was too small, but my master suite has a double-wide stall with two heavy-duty massaging shower heads."

"Mmm." Greg yanked off his t-shirt. "Everyone knows that two heads are better than one." He pressed his bare chest to his lover's. "I bought some Irish Spring soap at the store earlier and put it on your bathroom counter. If you wash my back," he said with his lips grazing Nick's ear, "I'll wash yours."

"You've got yourself a deal," Nick rasped back before initiating a lusty kiss and guiding their lip-locked bodies into his room. "Mmm." When they were tugging at each other's Levi's, he asked, "Do we need any other supplies besides Irish Spring?"

"No, let's just recreate our first time frottage experience." In his lover's ear, Greg confessed, "Truthfully, I'm still a little sore from pushin' the envelope this morning, so steer clear of my backdoor, okay? Totally my fault, not yours, before you go and get all tense and guilt-ridden."

"I wasn't gonna take any of the blame," Nick assured him. "I know it's not my fault." He started laughing, "You're the impatient horny little bastard who controls the shots. I'm just the sexy hot boy toy who does what he's told and happily lets you impale yourself on his girth."

Greg laughed all the way to the shower. "Wow! This stall really is huge. You could have a very comfortable three-some in here."

"Good thing too, since you're dating now." Nick opened the box of Irish Spring he had tossed on his bathroom counter earlier. "Though I can't imagine sweet little Mandy gettin' her freak on with us."

* * *

As Mandy stood at the sink sterilizing her rabbit vibrator with a Scientist's accuracy, she wondered if it would be wrong to go to bed with Greg on the first date. After spending so many Saturday nights with a synthetic man who couldn't hold or kiss her, she was desperate to share her sheets with the red-blooded geek who could make her juices flow with one dorky glance. 

Looking down at her comfy sweat pants and Cal Poly t-shirt, she realized a trip to Victoria's Secret would be necessary. She'd even push past her fear of purchasing the fire-engine red lace thong she always admired when browsing the underwear section.

"You only have one chance at a first impression, Mandy Lynn Webster. If you want Greg to fall in love with you, you're going to have to go all out. This is no time to play it safe!"

* * *

"Careful, G!" Nick burst out laughing when his overzealous partner almost slipped and fell while trying to rise from his knees. "I wouldn't want you to break that sweet little ass of yours." 

"I'm sure." Greg accepted Nick's helping hand and rose to his feet. "Are you up for returning the favor or would you rather just give me a hand?"

"To quote my first Little League coach, the only way to get better at somethin' is to hone your skills on a regular basis." The eager boyfriend moved in for a possessive kiss.

"Is it weird kissing me right after?" Greg asked with a curious lilt when their lips parted. "Some guys don't like to..."

"I always kissed girls after." With his fingers threaded in his lover's wet hair, Nick snatched a second, lustier smooch. "Oh, sorry…does it bother you?"

"Hell no, it turns me on."

"Of course it does, ya little perv." Nick winked. "Okay, stand right there." He positioned his lover's body. "Hold onto the towel rack though, because the sensation of both streams of water hittin' me while crashin' over the edge made me a little weak in the knees."

While gripping the metal bar, Greg studiously said, "As a scientist, I just want to say that I'm fully supportive of this intense experimentation phase."

* * *

Sitting on the closed toilet, Mandy carefully re-read the instructions on the home waxing kit she had purchased months ago but never used. "Remove wax immediately after spreading." Although she was terrified of the imminent pain, the never-lucky-in-love woman knew that men liked the waxed look and she was determined to go through with the tortuous process. No matter how much it hurt, it would be worth it when she was walking down the aisle in the gown of her dreams. 

"It's a little pain in exchange for a lifetime of pleasure," she said like a mantra as she spread the wax. "No pain, no gain." With a shaky hand she picked up the cloth sheet and smoothed it over the wax-covered area. "The future Mrs. Mandy Webster-Sanders can do this!" After a deep breath, she yanked on the cloth and released a shriek that rattled the perfume bottles on the counter. "Oh! OH! **OH!**" While gasping for air, she wondered if lesbians minded excess body hair. "Damn, that hurt."

When she could finally see straight again, she glanced down and saw that she had a long way to go. "What?! All that pain for a square inch of hair!" She swore her cats were laughing at her. "Being a girl stinks."

* * *

"This reeks," Sara groaned while scraping roach and dog food vomit off the pet bed cover. "You're lucky you have a mom who can handle rough smells, Bruno." Suddenly she realized the dog was no longer in the room. "Bruno?!" 

The happy-go-lucky pooch came trotting into the laundry room wagging his tail.

"Stay here, okay." Just as Sara was about to return to prepping the cover for washing, she noticed what appeared to be little beads stuck in the corner of Bruno's mouth. "What did you eat **now**?" She crouched down and slipped into the role of Trace Tech. "What are these things?"

When the CSI glanced up, she saw a trail of small beads leading down the hall. "What the…" As she followed the evidence her trepidation grew. "This doesn't look good." Her suspicions worsened when the dog took off in the opposite direction. "You didn't."

Unfortunately, he had.

"You ripped open your deluxe microbead-filled orthopedic bed." She recreated the crime in her head. "And while it was torn in your mouth, you shook it violently, catapulting little microbeads everywhere. All one million of them." Sara plopped onto the bed. "Should have bought that doggie crate." The Petsmart salesman had told them that crates weren't punishment, but a safe haven for dogs who are sometimes scared in a large house and prone to get into mischief that could accidentally result in injury or death. "I wonder if the 24-hour Wal-Mart around the corner sells crates?"

* * *

Walking out of Nick's bathroom with a towel around his waist, Greg said, "I'll stay up for twenty-four hours, go to bed at nine am, and wake up at seven. That should work." He crashed onto his partner's heavenly bed. "I've fantasized about sleeping on this cloud, so many times, I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby when the time comes." 

"Uh, I don't think you bein' in my bed with me is a good idea," Nick remarked when he saw Greg toss his towel and duck under the covers.

"Why not?" It made no sense.

"Because my mom bought me the bed and the bedding." Tension seeped into the Texan's voice. "It's kinda like havin' sex with you under her roof, ya know? Disrespectful."

"Oh." Greg bolted up. "Yeah, I get what you're saying."

"Sorry."

"It's no big deal."

Watching his partner reluctantly leave the bed, Nick felt ridiculous. "What about this…we sleep in my room, but we fool around in yours? That way I don't feel disrespectful and we don't have to change the sheets after sex. We can just zip across the hall to sleep in the comfy bed and then we'll deal with the housekeepin' in your room when we wake up. What do you think? I think it's a win-win."

"It's great idea." Greg backed into the arms of the man who was still adjusting to his sexuality and sighed, "I'd rather sleep on the hardwood floor in your arms than go back to sleeping alone again."

"Aww." Nick embraced his lover, resting his chin on his shoulder. "I think my romantic nature might be rubbin' off on you, G."

"I know my craziness is rubbing off on you." Greg dropped to a soulful whisper, "That's good, isn't it? We're balancing each other out. You calm me down, I push you out of your comfort zone."

"I love it." The sentimental cowboy brushed a kiss over his partner's cheek. "I love you." Strengthening his hold, he shared, "It was great bein' on vacation with you, but I'm glad we're home startin' this next part of our lives. The plannin' for the future we did at the grocery store was fun. It feels great to have a future with someone, to have things to look forward to experiencin' together."

"What kind of dog do you want?" Greg asked, savoring the embrace and the joy of partnership. "Not a puppy, right? We should get one from a shelter, don't you think?"

"Definitely. People toss out perfectly good dogs every day."

"What about kids?"

"People toss them out too," Nick sadly replied. "We see that all the time."

"If we did the kid thing some day, do you think that's the route you'd want to go? Or would you want to do the surrogate method, so it's really yours?"

"I can't imagine the two of us taking care of a baby, can you?"

"Definitely not the breast feeding part, no." After a laugh together, Greg said, "I'm 110 confident that we could get my mom to pitch in with a baby in the beginning."

"Yeah, I believe that." What Nick couldn't believe was that his dreams of being a father could be a reality. It was thrilling.

"I don't know," Greg confessed, "I can't really picture me as a dad yet. Every once in a while I think it's something I want eventually, but I guess I'm not mentally there yet. My clock's not ticking and I still feel like a kid sometimes. What about you?"

"Holidays back in Dallas are when it hits me hard. Every single one of the sisters and my brother has kids. I look at them together while I'm sitting by the Christmas tree alone and yeah it's stupid, but…I feel little less important. I guess it's another one of those things I'm just programmed to believe is true." Rhythmically stroking Greg's arm, he shyly admitted, "The only other time I've ever felt an overwhelming urge is when I'm with Cassie. Like when I went to career day at her school because she didn't have a daddy. It was such a rush. I cried in my truck on the way home from there, partly because I was happy that I made that little girl's day, but mostly because I thought I'd never get to do it for real. If Social Services had called that day and said 'Would you adopt her, Mr. Stokes?', I would have jumped at the chance. It was that bad, G." Getting choked up, he said, "To answer your question, based on how I felt in that classroom with Cassie, it doesn't have to be my biological child. Kids love people who love them. They're easy to please. That's what breaks my heart when I see people treatin' 'em so bad. And there are so many being treated badly and abandoned. It kills me."

"I know." Greg turned just as Nick's first tear drop fell. "You're a good guy living in a shitty world and it brings you down, but from now on, I'm here to lift you right back up." He held him tight. "And for the record, I think any kid that gets you for a dad will be hitting the jackpot. I'll just be the goofball who teaches them how to swipe cookies before dinner and open and reseal their Christmas gifts without getting busted."

"You really do that?" Nick glanced up wiping his eyes. "But that ruins the surprise."

"No it doesn't. You're just surprised a little sooner than planned."

Before Nick could reply, the doorbell rang. "Speakin' of surprises, who could that be?"

"It's probably Tish, lookin' for a squish from her favorite cowboy." Greg gave his partner a reassuring hug. "That was a really nice talk."

"It was."

"To be continued." Greg snatched a kiss. "I'll throw on some pants and answer the door."

* * *

"Honey!" Grissom walked in the front door and tossed his briefcase. "I decided to work from home." When he didn't get a reply, he headed for their home office. "Sara?" His eyes popped when he saw his brand new roach habitat was destroyed and his prize winning Madagascars were nowhere to be found. "Sara?!" 

As the panicked Entomologist rushed down the hall, he saw a mess of small white beads. "What the…" His bedroom was covered in them. "SARA!?" Fear flooded him as his mind jumped to the worst conclusions, but then he saw the ripped up pet bed and quickly surmised that the crimes had been committed by their new dog, not a vicious kidnapper. "Should have bought her a diamond ring." After a labored sigh, he headed for the medicine cabinet to pop some preventative migraine medication. "Wake me up from this nightmare."

* * *

"I'm Nicky's sister, Eileen," the conservatively dressed woman standing in the doorway announced while staring at the man she assumed was her brother's co-worker and roommate. 

"Is he expecting you?" Greg asked while trying not to panic. "Because he didn't mention…"

"I talked to him a few days ago and asked him if I could stay. He said yes, but before I got to give him the specifics one of my kids got hurt and I had to end our call. He's not answered my calls or emails since. The whole family was terribly worried when I told them. Mama called the lab, but Nicky's boss was out of town. Instead, she spoke to a woman named Judy. At first she wouldn't say anything, citin' it was confidential, but when Mama went hysterical, the woman shared that Nicky had been forced to take some time off because he had accrued too much vacation. Do you know where he went and when he'll be back? If it's not for a while, I'll have to find a hotel I suppose."

Just as Greg was about to suggest the Comfort Inn down the road, Nick's voice boomed from down the hall.

"Who was it, G?!"

"Nicky! It's your sister!" Eileen shouted as she barged her way inside. "For Heaven's sake, you had us worried sick!"

Standing naked in the hallway, the stunned brother rushed to cover his privates. "Oh shit."

"My thoughts exactly," Greg muttered.

"Good Lord, Nicky! Put some clothes on!" Eileen whirled around, putting her back to him. "I can't believe you're still runnin' around in your birthday suit like you're four years old. If God intended for us to be naked he wouldn't have put fig leaves in the Garden of Eden." Seeing her brother's bare-chested roommate, she politely said, "And I'm sorry, but while I'm stayin' here, I'd like to request that you keep a shirt on, young man. I'm a forty-three year old married woman and it isn't proper to be in a room with a half-naked bachelor."

"Sorry, where are my manners." Greg hustled over to grab a t-shirt from the laundry pile in the hallway. _And things were going so well._

* * *

While Gil was in the kitchen taking a break from vacuuming microbeads to drink a glass of ice water he heard keys in the front door. _Only a half-million beads to go. This is what it must be like to be Greg when I give him those shitty assignments_. As he placed his empty glass on the counter, the door opened. 

"Hey," Sara greeted, surprise resonating in her voice. "Is everything okay? You said you were going to stay at the lab until three am."

"I brought a stack of paperwork home with me instead." With his eyes locked on Bruno the Destructor, he said, "Someone had a busier night than me from the looks of things around here."

"Ripping his bed wasn't the only travesty I'm afraid."

Gil moved his glare to Sara. "He ate my roaches, didn't he?"

"Technically, no. He didn't swallow."

"It's still murder," the CSI huffed. "What did you do with the bodies?"

"Oh." Sara flustered. "Did you want to bury them or something?"

"I have a roach graveyard at the body farm. I carve little tombstones for each one that passes." When he saw his significant other struggling with the revelation, he sighed, "I'm kidding. I was only asking if you found the bodies so we could account for all of them. As we know, they run very fast, odds are he didn't get all of them when he tipped the tank."

"Oh great." Sara immediately felt her skin crawling and heard the pitter-patter of tiny roach feet. "They're probably in our bed by now."

"No, they'll prefer somewhere dark and damp."

"You can't blame Bruno," Sara stated in defense of her pooch. "He probably thought it was a giant food dishes full of live treats. We need to dog-proof the house and we should have purchased the crate the Petsmart guy suggested. I just got one at the 24-hour Walmart. It's in my back seat."

"I'll go fetch it." Gil took the keys from her hand and marched for the door.

Sara smiled at her clueless dog. "He took the news better than I thought."

* * *

"I just got back tonight, Sis," the shell-shocked brother explained in a shaky voice, "only a couple of hours ago as a matter of fact. I was in Mexico. My cell wasn't pickin' up a signal down there and I let the battery die out. I haven't been able to check my messages yet." 

"And I was at a Forensics conference in California," Greg added, "so I wasn't here to answer the house phone either. I took a day to visit with my parents when I was out there and literally returned within minutes of your brother."

"Then Greg and I went right out to the grocery store," Nick continued, "because we didn't have anything in the house to eat after bein' gone a while. That's why I haven't had time to check the house phone or my email."

While Eileen was distracted talking to her brother, Greg quietly moved to the kitchen counter and grabbed the bag full of condoms and Astroglide. "Speaking of e-mail, I just remembered that I had just IM'd my mom to tell her I was home safe when the doorbell rang. She's probably freaked thinking I was abducted when I answered the door. Excuse me, I'll be back in a minute." With the bag of sex supplies under his arm, he scurried for his bedroom.

"Greg seems like a very nice young man." Eileen studied the photos on the bookshelves, looking for clues about her brother's secretive life in Vegas, but all of the pictures were of Stokes family members. "You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mama. Is he divorced or never married?"

"Never married."

"Is he seein' anyone?" she probed.

Feeling beads of sweat forming on his forehead, he fielded the next nosy question loud enough so Greg would hear the answer in his room, "He's datin' a girl at the lab, Mandy. She's a fingerprint analyst. It's only just startin' up though."

"And what about you, Nicky?" Eileen patted her jittery brother's cheek. "Have you settled down at all?"

"I have actually, but I'd really prefer not to discuss my love life right now, because I'm just comin' off a breakup with a lady I thought might be the one. That's why I went to Mexico. I needed to get away."

"Aww, Nicky." She gave him a hug. "I'll respect your wishes not to talk about it, but please cheer up. There are plenty of other fish in the sea and you'll find yourself a sweet, God-fearin' woman to bear you babies real soon, you'll see. I'll say an extra prayer for it every day until you do."

"Thanks, sis." Nick anxiously scanned the room for any gay-related evidence and was relieved to find nothing incriminating. "Sorry, I wasn't here to prepare for your visit. I never figured you to mean **this week**. I thought you were talkin' about the future when you said you'd be comin' to town."

"Really? I could swear I mentioned how the trip came about at the last minute." Truthfully, the ambush was part of her and sister Linda's plan to catch their brother off guard and see if he was hidin' anything from the family, like a woman they wouldn't approve of or a drug habit, or as scary as the thought was…a homosexual lifestyle. There had to be some reason he wasn't married and making babies like the rest of the family, especially since he's a healthy, attractive man with a respectable job and a charming personality. It didn't make sense and she was determined to figure things out and get him on the right track once and for all. "I'm a replacement for one of the women from church who couldn't go, Monica Hansen. Her father just passed from a battle with cancer and she's helpin' her mama cope. With the fees and the ticket paid for already, I jumped at the chance. All I have to take care of is meals, a rental car and my room. Our sometimes dear brother gave me a voucher he had for a free rental car and since you said I could bunk here, it's a bargain trip."

"Good for you," Nick pushed out a loving smile and lied right through it, "and me of course. I'm happy to have you here."

"And I'm happy to be here with you, Nicky." She pinched her little brother's cheeks just like she did when he was a boy. "And how great is it that you're off from work when I'm here! Now we can spend more time together. Ooh! The Christian Coalition Conference isn't sold out, why don't you buy a pass and go with me! I bet you have a million sad Sin City stories to tell. You could give testimony to the depravity in this town. And there will be lots of young, single Christian women there who I'm sure would love to marry you and make beautiful babies. What do you say, sugar?!"

"As great as that all sounds, I'm gonna have to pass. I can't get off track with my sleep schedule. I used to have no problem when I was younger, but now I have a real hard time adjustin' if I do, so I try never to mess up the rhythm. I sleep every day from about ten to six, give or take some hours dependin' on how tired or rested I am, but we can still have breakfast and dinner together, right? I eat breakfast before headin' to bed and dinner around eight pm usually. How long are you stayin' again?"

"Until Friday mornin'. A continental breakfast is included with the conference, but dinner would be great every night. It'll be just like when we were growin' up. I'll make your favorite chili and cornbread for tomorrow at eight then. If there's anythin' else special, you just tell me and I'll cook it."

He did the math and cringed. "Six days. Wow. Uh, yeah…chili and cornbread would be nice, thanks. Meatloaf is always good too."

"I'll do both then. Now, if you'll show me where I'll be sleepin', I'll get these cases out of your way."

"Oh, uh, right this way." He carried the luggage for her. "Just so you know…Greg's room is here on the right and mine's across the hall from his. The guest room is the last door on the left. It has its own bathroom, so you don't have to worry about privacy." He walked inside, set down the luggage and then returned to the hallway. "It's real clean. Greg's mom was just out here for a spell and she cleaned it all and put fresh sheets on the bed before leavin'. So, you're all set."

"Aww, that's sweet that your roomie is a family man too."

"Oh yeah, Greg's from a real good family."

"What church do they attend?"

"Uh, it's um…a non-denominational one, he told me the name once, but I don't remember it."

"That's okay. As long as they've accepted Jesus as their personal savior, they're just as blessed as the rest of us, right, Nicky?"

"Amen." He nodded, recalling why he could only tolerate Eileen in small doses. While his parents and siblings were all devout Christians, only Eileen and Linda were hardcore proselytizers.

"I'm back!" Greg cheerily announced upon emerging from his room. Just in case their guest was a snoop, he had taken a few minutes to hide his porn and sex toys. "Sorry I took so long, my mom is very chatty."

Eileen smiled at the friendly man, "I hope you don't think me too rude, Greg, but I'm beat from a full day with the kids and a night of traveling, so I'm just gonna hit the hay. Thank you for the warm welcome, I'll be sure to add you to my prayer list tonight."

"Thanks, but you don't have to do that," Greg sweetly replied. "The big guy and I have an understanding. I help catch evil bad guys and don't bug Him with minor requests, and in return, He's there when I'm in big trouble, like when I was getting my ass kicked by a mob. There are plenty of people who need Him a lot more than me right now, like the hungry or the soldiers in Iraq or the orphan kids with AIDS in Africa. You can give them my prayer time."

"Oh you're so right about those poor children dying of the gay plague." Eileen shook her head. "They are the innocent victims of God's wrath against the homosexuals. My church has two missions in Africa and the stories the missionaries tell when they come home to Dallas are just horrific."

Nick stayed quiet as a church mouse.

Greg, on the other hand, couldn't wait to reply, "But if God doesn't make mistakes, how did innocent children get victimized by a disease God created to kill off homosexuals? That would be a **huge** mistake on His part, wouldn't it? And what about the women who had the babies?"

Having heard this debate a half dozen times, Nick already knew his sister's answers.

"God doesn't make mistakes, Greg, only people do." Eileen said with disgust, "Gay men pretendin' to be straight had sex with straight women and gave them the disease. They're all tricksters you know. They marry women while havin' vile affairs with men. Those poor women had infected babies."

Greg countered, "But we're talking about our all-powerful God here. I'm a DNA scientist and being familiar with genetics, I have to wonder, if God only wanted gay men to die, then why didn't he create a disease that wouldn't infect women? If he had made it gender specific and designed it to attack when two men engaged in sex, then all the gay men would have gotten sick, but not the women they slept with and consequently not their babies. Hemophilia is a great example of a gender-specific disease, so there is precedent. If God can create diseases that only target men 99 of the time, then why didn't he do it again when he whipped up AIDS to wipe out the gays?"

Nick waited for his sister's reply, but Greg continued before one came.

"And what about his method of delivery? Are you saying that God infected apes in Africa and then waited for chimps to catch the disease, then waited again for hunters, presumably gay ones, to kill and eat chimps, then waited for the disease to morph from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus into Human Immunodeficiency Virus in the gay hunters' blood, and then waited again for the gay hunters to have sex with other gay men? I will say this…it was good idea timing all that with the advent of mass plane travel, because it spread a lot faster having all the gay men flying around the world, but still, it's a pretty convoluted plan that has completely spiraled out of control killing off millions of innocent children, women, transfusion patients and hemophiliacs. Statistics show that approximately 47 percent of AIDS patients contracted the disease from male-male contact, that means God's gay plague got it wrong **53 percent of the time**. If I made mistakes 53 percent of the time at work, I'd be fired!" Greg shook his head, "No, as I see it, I either have to believe God is** really** bad at carrying out targeted wrath, or that AIDS wasn't God's doing anymore than small pox or bird flu is. I pick the latter."

After a moment of silence, Eileen replied, "Sweetie, you're forgettin' to factor in the devil's interference with God's work. But we'll have to talk about that tomorrow, because like I said, I'm beat from the day I've had. I'm headin' in my room here and passin' out. Good night!"

"Night, sis."

"Nice meeting you, good night." When the guest room door shut, Greg rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be a lot more fun than I imagined." He followed his partner into the kitchen grinning.

"We have to stay two feet apart in front of her and sleep in our own rooms."

Greg' smile vanished. "It's back to being completely not fun."

"And from now on, don't debate with her. It's a waste of time and oxygen, G. No matter how smart or right you are, you're not gonna change her mind. She absolutely believes what she preaches and when somethin' doesn't make sense, you saw what she does…she rationalizes that it's the devil's work. That's the catch all. My mother doesn't agree with most of the stuff Eileen says, but if she won't listen to her own mother, she's not gonna listen to you. She's hardcore, she won't let her kids dress up on Halloween with their cousins and goes off about the commercialization of Christmas every year while we're openin' gifts." Nick made one last plea, "For my sake, just do whatever needs to be done to make these days pass without drama. I'm completely on edge as it is, remember? I don't need extra stress."

"You're right. I promise. No matter what she says, I'll just keep quiet or nod." Greg embraced his troubled partner. "It's five days. It'll go fast. I'll get a motel room for the week so we can have an escape, that'll help."

"Okay." Just as Nick was about to say 'we better not hug, because Eileen may need something and walk out here', she did just that.

"Oh!" Eileen froze when she saw the two men embracing.

Greg burst into crocodile tears. "Thanks for telling me it'll be okay, buddy." He rushed to the kitchen sink and washed his face, pretending it was tear-stained.

"My goodness, what's wrong?" Eileen queried.

Nick covered, "Uh, I'm not sure he wants you to know, sis, it's kind of personal."

"It's okay." Greg dabbed his wet face with a dish towel. "Since the beating, I suffer from PTSD and sometimes the silliest things set me off." It wasn't a lie. "Your brother has been a godsend to be honest. Taking me in his home and counseling me. Since he's lived through a similar experience, he knows just what to say." It was all true. "I have a lot of trouble sleeping and unlike most guys who would have macho issues, he doesn't even mind me sleeping in his bed if I'm shaking real bad from a nightmare and can't get any rest for work. Just don't tell anyone I said that, because I'd hate for people to start saying we're queer." He took great pride in sticking to the truth. "That's why my mom was staying here for a while, she worries about me. When she was here, she asked Nick to lookout for me. My parents love him like a son." He put his arm around his lover. "Isn't that right?"

"Yeah." Nick simultaneously felt anxious, relieved and entertained all at the same time.

"You poor, poor man." Eileen placed her hand on her heart. "I sure hope God's next plague is directed at those vile gang bangers who hurt you and make the streets unsafe for decent folk. I'll add that in my prayers tonight." She pointed to the fridge. "Do you have a water bottle, Nicky? This desert climate has me parched."

* * *

Staring at their new baby sleeping soundly in his crib, Gil asked, "What if he needs water in the middle of the night?" 

"I'm sure he'll cry or bark if he needs something, right?"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough."

Sara glanced over smiling. "Our co-workers would be shocked to see us acting like parents."

"I think most of them believe I was born on another planet and not even capable of human reproduction."

After a purr, Sara replied, "I know you're more than capable of the act of reproduction. You excel at it."

"I'm sure our co-workers would find that hard to believe too," he droned.

"When you were at the lab, were there any signs of Hodges starting rumors?"

"Not that I could tell."

Sara breathed a sigh of relief. "Hopefully he dropped it."

* * *

As he did every night, Hodges took a seat in front of his computer to search for information on his co-workers. Over the years he had found all sorts of tidbits and photos that provided him great enjoyment and in some cases, furthered his career with LVPD. After cracking his knuckles, he started typing the usual names and combinations of names, using a variety of search tools that checked websites, blogs and MySpace pages. 

**Gil Grissom  
Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle  
Tony Vartann and Conrad Ecklie  
Naked Wendy Simms**

While chomping on Fritos and watching his favorite Dukes of Hazzard video, he watched search after search come back with nothing new and/or exciting.

**Greg Sanders and Nick Stokes**

"What the…" Scrambling for the computer mouse, Hodges spilled his Fritos. "A proud PFLAG mom's website dedicated to her son and his partner." He was so excited, he temporarily forgot to breathe and almost passed out, but when his circulation returned to normal, he leapt from his chair. "JACKPOT!"

After taking a victory lap past his shelves of pristinely wrapped action figures, he began pacing the room wondering what to do with the mind-blowing information. Exposing them would bring only fleeting joy and it was kind of cruel, especially after what Greg had been through in the past year. "Hmm. What to do, what to do..."

* * *

**ANs: **

**Thank you** to everyone who returned to read the 2nd story in this series! I hope there was enough in this first chapter to make you want to stick around : ) I have A LOT planned for this story.

**An important note:** Throughout the story, some characters will be slightly flawed and some will be majorly flawed. Some will try to set things right, others won't care who they hurt. The thing I want to stress is - no single character represents an entire group. For instance, Eileen is written as an individual and isn't intended to be the author's view of every woman or Christian or Texan or Neo-Con Republican – no more than Warrick is meant to represent every African American man or Greg is meant to represent every gay man. My intent isn't to offend or misrepresent any group. Every group has extremists on the left and right and all kinds of people in between. I try my best to paint a realistic picture and include a variety of characters for balance : )

**Thanks so much for reading and for sharing your thoughts! Your feedback during Where You Are was incredibly inspirational and motivational. I can only hope for the same type of synergy between readers and author for this story as well. **

**Next Chapter Posting – Late Thursday PST, July 12****th**** A big thanks to KJT for editing in between boxing matches with kangaroos in Oz! **

**Maggs **


	2. Chapter 2: If They Only Knew

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 2: If They Only Knew **

Excited to return to work after a week off, Sara quickly dressed and gathered her things. "Grissom!" she snapped.

Unaccustomed to hearing his significant other calling him by his last name at home, Gil popped out of the bathroom wondering what he had done wrong.

"I'm heading in a few hours early, boss. Happy?"

"Uh…is something wrong, honey?" They had made passionate love only an hour ago and he couldn't imagine what had gone wrong since_. I would have bet the farm that she wasn't faking when she screamed my name. _

"Everything's great. I was just practicing my anti-Grissom attitude problem. Did I sound realistic enough to throw Hodges off our trail?"

"You certainly had me shaking in my shoes." _Whew._

"Good to know." After pecking his cheek, she strolled to the walk-in closet to step into her favorite work shoes. "I think I should - what the - OH!" She kicked off her shoe and ran from the closet, leaving a slimy trail of roach guts on the wood floor. "Ugh. Is it what I think it is?"

"Yes," Gil replied while looking at the bottom of her sock. "From the size of the splotch I'd say it was Melvin." He shook his head. "What an undignified and odorous end for a champion."

"My feet don't stink," Sara snipped, "at least they didn't until bug juice seeped through my sock. Could you…" When he pulled the slime-covered sock off for her, she smiled, "Thank you."

Gil stared at what was left of the prize-winning roach. "You're telling Greg that his favorite roach met an untimely and horrific death. I promised him he could keep his first champion. I was supposed to give Melvin to him tonight."

"Oh come on, how long do they live anyway? A month? Big deal."

"Two years on average, but some have lived as long as five."

"Oh." Sara peeled off her remaining sock and said, "Hopefully he'll be in a really good mood from a week of nonstop action with Nick."

* * *

When Nick woke alone in his bed at seven pm, he wished it was Friday, not Sunday night. Even though he and Greg had only been sleeping together for a week, it felt incredibly unnatural to wake up without him nearby. 

Sighing, he tossed off the covers and trudged across the room scratching himself through his boxer briefs. _This separate bedroom bullshit sucks. My sister wouldn't have to sleep away from her husband if I was at her house. Not that she's ever invited me for a visit. Why the hell am I sacrificing my happiness for a woman who wouldn't be givin' me the time of day if she didn't need a free room? 'Cause I'm an idiot! I was so damn happy on that boat this week it was ridiculous. Five friggin' days of this bullshit too. That's five friggin' days too many. Greg and I are gonna meet up somewhere for some privacy, that's for damn sure._ The second he stepped into the bathroom, the residue of Irish Spring soap filled his nose filled his nose and his body ignited. "I guess it's self-service or no service." His hand would pale in comparison to the attention he had been receiving. But just as he was about to remove his shorts, there was a knock on his door.

"Hey, buddy!" Greg yelled loud enough for Eileen to hear him while she made dinner in the kitchen. "My shower drain is still jacked up and I'm not in the mood to deal with a flood, so can I use your shower when you're done? I've been using the guest room one, but I don't think it's appropriate with your sister staying in there."

"Thank God I fell in love with a genius." Nick raced for the door and threw it open. "Of course you can, buddy." The sight of his significant other made his pulse soar. "Any time." In that moment he knew two things for certain - absence does make the heart grow fonder and he really did love the adorable moose jammie-wearing man standing before him. "I'm just shavin' and clippin' my toenails and stuff, so you don't have to wait."

"Great, thanks."

As soon as his grinning partner crossed the threshold, Nick locked the door and greeted him with an invigorating morning kiss. "Oops, you brushed and I didn't. Sorry."

"I so don't care. Not even the mention of you clipping your nasty toenails turned me off." Grinning wildly, Greg tossed his t-shirt and then initiated a deeper, longer kiss. "I knew you were right across the hall, but I missed you." Enjoying every second of the romantic reunion, he whispered, "It was so weird sleeping without you next to me."

"I felt the same way about you not bein' there when I woke up just now."

"I almost snuck into your room a half dozen times."

Nick laughed at their patheticness. "We got spoiled quick I guess."

"This is what meth addiction must be like," Greg joked, "I woke up craving cowboy and here I am lying and scheming to get my fix." He swirled a hand over his partner's abs and kept going. "Looks like you woke up a little needy yourself." The gasp his lover emitted upon contact brought a smile to his face. "I bet the little buckaroo is relieved I'm here, because we both know your handjob technique lacks finesse."

Nick closed his eyes, savoring his lover's touch. "Oh, that's good," he contentedly purred.

Brining his mouth to his partner's ear, Greg murmured his traditional greeting, "Good morning, Cletus."

"Mornin', G."

After outlining Nick's ear with his tongue, the eager man whispered, "Wanna fulfill a locker room fantasy of mine, Jocko?" He nipped at the ear lobe. "I have a hunch it's probably one of your secret little fantasies too."

Nick pushed his lover's pajama bottoms to the floor.

"It's officially a swordfight," Greg chuckled when their equally heated body parts clashed. "Please tell me you have supplies in this room, because I really don't want to dash across the hall with a hard-on and your sister on the prowl."

* * *

When she heard the shower running inside her brother's master bedroom suite, Eileen raced into Greg's room with her keychain flashlight to check the supposedly clogged drain. Much to her surprise, it did look gnarly and unusable_. He was telling the truth._ After her interaction with Greg the previous night, she was certain he was a manipulative propaganda-spewing homosexual preying on her naïve and compassionate brother. 

"I don't trust you, Greg," she muttered under her breath while tiptoeing out of the man's bathroom and praying she didn't get caught. _I think your plan is to force yourself on my unsuspecting brother when he's vulnerable and too mentally off balance to fight back._

* * *

"This is what geek boys get when they drop soap in my shower." Nick huffed as he strengthened his grip on his breathless lover. "But I think this is exactly what you wanted. Yeah, I think you came here lookin' for a little adventure, didn't you?!" 

"Y…yes," Greg nervously replied in character. "I came here looking for…oh!" He gripped the towel rack. "I…I play the trombone in the band, so I see you at games."

"You watch me play ball?"

"You look **amazing **under those Friday night lights," the geek confessed in between gulps of air. "Last Friday, when you took off your helmet and tilted back your head to gulp Gatorade, I lost it. I just stood there gaping, and messed up the field formation. I'm the top of the 'o' in 'Go Team' and without me there, it looked like 'Gu Team'."

Nick struggled not to laugh. "Why did you come lookin' for me, geek? Was band camp too boring?"

"I wanted you…this."

"Oh yeah? Well, how does it feel now that you have all of me?"

"Oh!" Greg exclaimed without acting. For a guy who never role played before, Nick appeared to have no trouble getting into his part.

"I think this is turnin' out to be a little more than you bargained for, isn't it?" When his perfectly in-character playmate frantically nodded, Nick notched up the heat.

Pelted by steaming water and building emotions, Greg struggled to hang on, but just like all the other times, he failed miserably.

"Are you kiddin' me?!" Nick shook his head in disbelief. "Okay, I won't make fun of you this time, but **only **'cause you're pretendin' to be seventeen and that's in character." He returned to the role play with wicked laugh, "You're done, but I'm just gettin' started, geek boy."

When Greg regained his composure he pleaded, "B…but I have a three hour chess club meeting later. I won't be able to sit if this goes on much longer."

"I guess you'll be bringin' a pillow to your chess match, Poindexter, 'cause we're not even close to checkmate."

* * *

"Poor, sweet Nicky," Eileen whispered into her cell phone to her twin sister Linda. "It's so obvious to me that Greg is waitin' to pounce on him when he suspects our troubled little brother is havin' a weak moment. I can feel it, Sis, that man is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Last night, Nicky told me he's comin' off a bad breakup with a lady he thought was Miss Right. That's why he ran to Mexico without notice - to nurse his broken heart. Can you imagine how wonderful that sounds to a homosexual predator lyin' in wait? And we know poor Nicky's an easy mark, that's how that sadistic babysitter got him to drop his pants when he was a boy. He's too trustin' and sweet natured. Greg's probably waitin' for him to get real depressed, so he can tell him that women are all evil, dishonest bitches. Then he'll offer an alternative lifestyle that promises to take away all the pain and loneliness through taboo sex." 

"That's exactly what happened to Ellis Willman after his wife left him, remember? His queer co-worker moved in for the kill. He went from singin' in the church choir to dancin' with his homosexual lover at his office Christmas Party. I wouldn't have believed it, but Winnie Thomas showed me a photo of it."

"See, that's what happens when those big companies that offer domestic partner benefits come to town. They bring a bunch of queers with 'em and then more flock to work there. That's why I refuse to shop at IKEA. I don't care how cheap and wonderful everybody says their damn stuff is."

"IKEA's one of 'em?" Linda said with trepidation. "But I love that store. I wish you hadn't told me."

"It was on the 'Do Not Support List' that Pastor Allen handed out at the beginning of the year, how could you miss it? Besides that, your first clue shoulda been that it's a European company. You know those Europeans with their nude beaches are as immoral as they come."

"Shoot. I really had my eye on IKEA bedroom furniture for Annie's room."

"Well unless you want your innocent daughter sleepin' in a bed built by queers, I suggest you buy from an ethical company like Walmart."

"With JCPenny and Sears goin' to the dark side, pretty soon Walmart will be the only place respectable Christians will be able to shop."

"Back to Nicky," Eileen redirected. "The problem is that he's always seekin' approval from men because he's Daddy's second son and was always in Chuck's shadow…still is. I read an article that said 85 percent of cured gay men say that they had emotionally distant fathers who hurt or rejected them in some way. They develop somethin' called 'defensive detachment' which causes them to confuse sexual attraction with the need to emotionally bond with men. That's why I make sure Trevor gives our sons plenty of positive reinforcement and affection. Daddy was way too hard on Nicky growin' up. The boy tried his hardest, but he just wasn't as smart as the rest of us and not as athletically gifted as Chuck. I caught that poor child cryin' behind the stables more times than I can count."

"I always thought that Daddy was just tryin' to toughen him up, but it looks like he might have done the opposite. You know it breaks my heart when I think of all the sufferin' our brother has gone through in his life…bein' stalked and kidnapped and buried alive. If another person hurts him or tries to destroy his happiness, I may not be able to stop myself from slappin' them senseless. Why can't people just leave our little brother alone and let him lead his own life!"

"So, how should I expose Greg and get Nicky to kick him out?"

"You'll need proof of his duplicity before you go to Nicky. Just like all the lawyers in our family, he's always goin' on and on about needin' a ton of evidence before presumin' guilt. If you confront him with a hunch, it could backfire and you know how crafty the gays are. Greg will have it lookin' like you're a shady snoop instead of a concerned sister tryin' to preserve her little brother's salvation. Be patient. Don't rush. "

* * *

Still overheated, Greg turned down the hot water and faced his sated lover. "You **rocked **that fantasy, jocko. Are you sure you didn't dabble in role play before you met me?" 

"Never. Unless you count me being with a woman when I was really gay, but since I was lyin' to myself I don't think it qualifies." After a laugh he said, "It really is fun."

"Being gay?"

"Role play, smart ass. Thanks for pushin' me to try it yesterday and today."

"I told you it would be a great way for you to relax and get out of your stress bubble for a little while."

"Yeah, it's like playin' pretend as a kid. I always loved doing that. I loved bein' someone else for a while to forget the stress of the real world."

Greg decided not to point out that happy little kids don't need to 'forget the stress of the real world'. "I better go. Your sister's probably out there wonderin' why I'm takin' such a long shower."

Nick lingered a kiss over Greg's warm, wet lips. "I'm really startin' not to care what my judgmental and closed-minded sister thinks." Chuckling, he said, "Because I love you, Dex."

"Dex?" Greg cracked up. "Short for Poindexter?"

"Uh huh." Gazing into his lover's chocolate brown eyes, Nick said, "I'm not gonna hide how I feel about you. That's like me bein' embarrassed to be with you. I'm gonna dry off, get dressed and then march out there and tell her that we're here, we're queer, and if she can't handle it, she can walk out the door and pay for a hotel room."

"That's the adrenaline and the love talking, and while I appreciate you wanting to do that for me, you need to stop and think with your mind, not your heart. Okay, Mr. Romance? I know you love me and aren't ashamed to be with me. You don't have to prove anything."

"It's not just that."

"Come on, you don't want your mom hearing the news from your hysterical sister, right? I know it's hard to live a lie, and I know it hurts because my parents are super supportive and you wish it could be as easy for you, but we have to be realistic and smart about this." Greg patted his emotional partner's cheek. "Remember what Pete said about dealing with his conservative family and what it said in that PFLAG pamphlet my mother gave you about Coming Out to potentially non-supportive parents? Don't rush. Be patient."

* * *

When Hodges saw Sara strolling down the hall, he checked his watch. "Looks like someone else is trying to suck up to the boss." Alone in his Trace Lab, he muttered, "Like she doesn't already have an advantage over me. I can't drop to my knees to ask for a raise. Well, I suppose I could, but…eww." 

After wiping clean his mind's eye, Hodges returned to his paperwork. He'd use the mundane task to pass the time until Greg arrived. But then what? He still couldn't decide what to do with his secret information. A very immature part of him, the part that had taken a ton of crap from Stokes and Sanders over the years, wanted to print out one of the incriminating photos and yell 'Gotcha!' But he knew that would be wrong and the information was too valuable to waste on fleeting revenge. _Be patient. _

* * *

When Mandy was done applying the makeup she had purchased at the mall earlier, she returned her glasses to her face and glanced in the mirror. "What?! Everything looks exactly the same!" Except for her wallet, which was $121.89 lighter. "Surrrrre it'll brighten my eyes and make my lips plumper." 

Realizing she had been hoodwinked by a makeup-hawking bimbo, the supposed genius trudged over to the bed. "Okay, miracle-bra, you better not let me down too. Ha! Don't let me down." After donning the undergarment, she turned to inspect herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door. "Whoa." Unlike the make-up chick, the miracle-bra saleswoman wasn't a compulsive liar. "This thing really works."

Mandy's love-affair with her boobs was rudely interrupted by her cell phone's 'Holding Out for a Hero' ring tone. "Hello," she answered. With her phone in hand, she dashed back to the mirror to make sure her miraculous cleavage was still there.

"Hi, Mandy, it's Henry."

"Hey." She turned sideways to check her chest's profile.

"I'm going to try that new Chinese place that opened up across the street from the lab. Did you eat yet? If you haven't, I thought…"

"I ate when I was at the mall earlier."

"Oh."

While wondering if there was such a thing as miracle panties, she said, "Thanks for thinking of me. I'll see you at work."

"Uh…yeah. Bye."

"Bye." After tossing the phone on the bed, she pulled on her blouse. "Hmm, should I leave one or two buttons open at the top?" She tried one and then popped a second. "Nah, too Catherine Willows, and if Greg liked girls who let their boobs hang out at work, he would have been chasing her, not Sara all these years."

Staring at her enhanced profile, she began obsessing over what to say when she saw to the future father of her children. Although he had asked her out, they hadn't set a date or made specific plans yet. _Should I bring it up? Or should I wait for him to mention it? _Unlike science, dating didn't come naturally to her. _I should wait for him to say something, because I don't want him to think I'm stalking him._ She counseled her reflection, "Don't rush him. Be patient."

* * *

Stepping up to the counter of ChopStix, Henry despondently said, "I'll have combo one." 

"Is that it?" the young Chinese girl at the cash register asked in a heavy Cantonese accent. "Just one combo one for one?"

"Story of my life," the lonely Toxicologist droned as he nodded. He was so tired of being alone that even the advertisements for mail order brides were catching his eye. "How much do I owe you?"

"Eight dollar and fourteen cent."

"Here's ten, put the rest in your tip jar." He smiled, hoping the pretty girl would return the gesture. When she did he pretended it was because she liked him, not because he gave her money. _Hmm, that was almost like paying for sex. That was pretty easy. Maybe I could work up the nerve to go to The Bunny Ranch._ He had been watching episodes of Cathouse on HBO and had developed a huge crush on Max, the brothel's only conservative working girl. Aside from being gorgeous, she liked to play chess during foreplay and refused to do anything kinky.

The cashier informed her daydreaming customer, "Here your cup for drink. You are a zero."

"I'm a zero?" Glancing down at the receipt she had just handed him, he saw the big black **0** next to the words 'order number' He took it as further proof. _Yep, that's what I am…a big fat zero._ He trudged over to the drink station and filled his cup with ice and Sprite** Zero** to match his order number and social status. _Henry 'Zero' Andrews aka Mr. Invisible, that's me._

"Hey, Henry," Bobby Dawson, LVPD's best ballistics expert, couldn't believe his luck. "I guess you had the same idea as me, huh? Tryin' out the new place before shift."

"Yeah," the glum Toxicologist replied. "I ordered combo one."

"I'm trying combo four. I musta just missed you when I went to use the restroom. "I'm order number 99, what about you?"

"Zero!" an employee yelled.

"That's me," Henry sighed and headed for the counter.

"Number 99!"

Bobby hurried to join the guy he had been secretly crushing on for a while. "Hey, I was gettin' mine to go 'cause I hate sittin' alone, but if you're eatin' here..."

"Nah, I'm takin' it to work." Henry grabbed the bag marked with a big fat black **0**.

Just as he was about to make a bold move, Bobby pursed his lips and reminded himself that Henry, who seemed deeply closeted and tense most of the time, probably wouldn't appreciate getting hit on in public. _Don't rush things. Be patient._

* * *

After swallowing his latest bite of cornbread, Greg exclaimed, "This is seriously the best chili and cornbread I've ever had. Thanks again for cooking, Eileen." 

"You're very welcome, Greg," the suspicious woman feigned a carefree tone.

"Can you give him the recipe, Sis?" Nick queried on behalf of his secret lover. "Then he could make it for me when you're gone." His sister really seemed to like his significant other, but he knew that her feelings would drastically change once she knew the truth.

"Sorry," Eileen shook her head. "It's a Stokes family recipe, so I can't, but I'll give it to you, Nicky."

"That works even better, Sis. I'll cook it for him, 'cause I owe this guy a ton of meals. He's a great cook. His mom taught him."

"She didn't actually teach me," Greg laughed, "she tied me to her apron strings and I was bored, so I watched what she was doing."

"Was your mother a homemaker?" Eileen knew that many gay men were smothered by their mothers and encouraged to do feminine things. She had even met an insane woman who said she would have been disappointed if her son had turned out straight after all the work she did to make him gay.

The over-loved son joked, "Jan Hojem Sanders is more of a home dictator than a homemaker."

Nick nudged his buddy. "Greggo's a certified Mama's Boy."

Laughing with his partner, Greg corrected, "I think Certifiable is more accurate."

"What kind of a name is Hojem exactly?"

"Norwegian," Nick answered. "His grandparents came to the US when they were pregnant with his mother."

"They ran actually. They were knocked up out of wedlock and my grandmother's parents were pissed."

"Rightly so," Eileen stated with conviction. "My son just hit puberty and I've told him that if I find out he's sexually active, he can fill one suitcase and leave home for good. If he's adult enough to have sex, he's adult enough to support himself."

As he snatched another piece of cornbread from the serving platter, Greg said, "Hey, I'm all for kids waiting to have sex. There are way too many pregnant teens and unwanted kids in this town already. I abstained until Graduate School and think it's great if you can wait for a special person, but I don't blame people for giving into passion. It's hard to abstain when it seems like everyone else in your dorm is in someone's arms on Saturday night."

"Is that why you gave in before marriage, sugar?" Eileen probed while her brother watched the verbal tennis match. "Peer pressure?"

Greg stretched the truth for Nick's sake, "Actually, I was engaged and thought she would be my forever girl, so in my mind, I was with the person I planned on being with the rest of my life. Unfortunately, I had to leave school to take care of my mom after my grandparents passed; she was in a serious depression. While I was home, my fiancée found someone else to keep her warm at night. I was devastated, but everything happens for a reason and painful experiences, as horrible as they are at the time, can be blessings in disguise. It's like that country song my hick roomie here plays all the time 'Thank God for Unanswered Prayers'. It's totally obvious to me now that I was meant to marry someone else, someone who will love me for who I am and never betray me."

While Eileen was already having serious doubts about her Gay Greg theory, she caught her brother dreamily staring at his supposed platonic friend. "Greg, um…why did you ask my brother if you could move in here?"

"I didn't. Nick asked me. Well, begged is more accurate."

Recalling Greg's comment about Nicky offering to let him sleep in his bed at night and the look on her brother's face when he was comforting his roommate, Eileen's mind raced toward a frightening conclusion.

"Greggo's had it real rough since the attack," Nick somberly explained, "he's been hung out to dry in the media more than a few times and vilified by the James family and their friends. I thought it would be better for him to live with someone who could cheer him up and keep an eye on him for a while. This is a much safer neighborhood for him too." He winked at his significant other. "I'm takin' good care of you, aren't I, buddy?"

"The best," Greg replied before cracking a goofy grin. "I owe you big."

_Dear God in Heaven! What if Nicky clogged Greg's shower drain on purpose? He's a CSI, he'd know how._ Suddenly fearing that it was **her brother** who was the homosexual predator and Greg his unsuspecting target, Eileen abruptly stood. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to powder my nose."

* * *

Before leaving her car, Mandy checked her appearance in the lighted vanity mirror. "It's as good as it's going to get," she huffed before grabbing her tote bag and stepping out the car. 

"You're coming in early too, huh?" Jacqui Franco said as she walked over to greet her fellow Print Tech.

"My cats didn't want to hang out with me."

"Mine either."

Strolling toward the entrance with her lab partner, Mandy said, "Do anything exciting this weekend?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it was a pretty big weekend for me." Jacqui's sarcasm thickened, "I almost don't want to say, because you'll be so jealous, but it's just too good not to share." When she had her friend dying of curiosity, she said, "I was at Starbucks last night pretending to be hip and cool when I tripped over my own two feet and fell on my ass in front of** real** hip and cool people."

"You did not!"

"Oh yeah, I did. Luckily I didn't have my coffee yet, or I probably would have burned myself too." Jacqui sighed, "And while I was at what I **thought** was the pinnacle of the humiliation I heard someone say 'aren't you supposed to call 911 when old people fall because they have like strokes and stuff'."

"Old?! You're not old, you're…"

"Don't say it!" The forty year old shivered. "How was your weekend?"

Mandy couldn't contain her excitement. "I was in my usual Saturday night shame spiral when I realized I was out of Chunky Monkey."

"Ooh, Defcon 4."

"Exactly, so I ran to the Albertson's around the corner from my new apartment and when I got to the frozen food aisle I bumped into Greg and Nick. They're roommates you know. It turns out that they live in my new neighborhood." In a dreamy voice, she shared, "Right there in front of Ben and Jerry, Greg asked me out. Can you believe it?! He **finally** took the hint that I was interested."

"Sanders asked you out?" Jacqui bit her tongue so she wouldn't blurt 'but he's hot for Sara'.

* * *

"Sara!" Greg waved at her while bopping down the empty hall to catch up with her. "Miss me?" 

"Of course I did!" When she saw he was glowing from fun in the sun and probably some fun between the sheets, she teased, "I certainly didn't expect to see you at work early. Are the honeymooners already past the 'locked in the bedroom' stage?"

"Hardly," he asserted with a chuckle. "We're still going to the moon at least twice a day, Alice."

"I thought Hodges was the only vintage TV show freak around here."

"Papa Olaf **loved** The Honeymooners and when I was little I used to sit on his lap and watch it with him every night. He'd laugh so hard, I'd bounce right off his lap. I know it's really hard to imagine because of my current brawny physique," he lifted his right arm and flexed, "but I was pretty scrawny kid who weighed forty pounds soaking wet."

"Brawny physique?" she parroted, trying not to laugh.

"If you don't believe me, give one of my guns a feel."

"You must be confusing me with Catherine; I don't feel up my co-workers, only my boss."

"Ha!"

Instead of groping her friend, Sara inspected the new cowry shell bracelet on his wrist. "Hey, I like this. Did you get it in Catalina?"

"Yeah." A smiled breezed over his lips. "Nick surprised me with it. He also gave me a spiked dog collar with a tag that says 'Nick's Bitch', but I thought it best to only wear the bracelet to work."

"Good call," she laughed. "Did you get Nick to chill out a little? Give me details…but not all of them"

"We had the** best** time," he boasted. "I took my uptight partner to his first gay bar, which was riot."

The San Francisco girl replied, "I would have paid good money to see the look on Nick's face when he walked into a pulsating dance club full of half-naked guys. What did he think of the back room?"

"No, this place was on Catalina Island. It was a real low key and the back room was for playing pool, not dropping to your knees. We made two good friends there, these guys who were celebrating their wedding anniversary – a legit marriage too, because they're from Massachusetts." He laughed, "The husband was a burly fireman and the little woman was an MIT professor, so my jock boyfriend and I complimented them well. We shot some pool and met up with them a few other times during the week…not for anything kinky, before you go there, Ms. Sidle. We have an open invite to visit them, which we're definitely going to try and take advantage of some day."

Since she had been the one to get Nick to come out, she was thrilled to hear it had been for the best. "That's great." The happiness on Greg's face as he relayed the information was the biggest reward of all. It seemed like only yesterday that she was holding his hand waiting for an ambulance and hoping he wouldn't die. "I'm so happy for you."

"Ooh, and you know how much my cowboy loves kids, right? Well, our new friends shared that they're having a baby through a surrogate in a couple of months. When Nick heard that he asked a million questions." Greg proudly said, "Forcing him inside that bar was the best thing I could have done for him. Now he totally believes that two guys can have a normal relationship and that he's not the only old-fashioned queer in America. On our last night, he took me out for our first romantic dinner – I'm talking under the stars with champagne and candlelight. We were on a patio with about twenty tables and he didn't care who knew we were a couple. We toasted to our happiness and gazed into each other's eyes." He sighed, "By the time he was done making his moves, I was in full swoon under a full moon."

"Considering he couldn't say the word 'gay' when he left town, that's remarkable progress." Sara joked, "I'm not sure I'll recognize him when I see him."

"He'll be the guy with a nipple ring and a gay pride tattoo on his left arm." Greg cracked up, "Okay, that part's a lie."

"Yeah, I wasn't buying that part." Thrilled for her friends, Sara hugged her co-worker. "I'm so glad I overstepped my bounds and helped jump start things for you guys. If anyone deserves to be happy, it's the two of you. I'm thrilled that it's going so well."

"Too bad we had to come home." Stepping out of the hug, he explained, "We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and **Mandy** walked down the frozen food aisle while I had my hand on Nick's cheek."

"Ooh."

"Yeah, and the only things in my shopping cart were Trojans and Astroglide."

Sara cringed. "Talk about incriminating evidence."

"Yeah, other than a neon sign over our heads that said 'Queers Here', things couldn't have looked worse."

"Is she going to tell anyone you're a couple?"

"No, because I managed to convince her that Nick and I weren't together."

"How'd you do that?" Sara asked, knowing Mandy was one of the smartest people in the lab.

"I told her the supplies were for Grissom and Hodges, because they were too shy to buy the stuff themselves." Breaking into a laugh, he told the truth, "I told her I was helping Nick through an emotional moment and then I asked her out on a date."

"What? You can't be serious."

"I was desperate."

Disappointed by her friend's decision, she snipped, "But she really likes you, Greg. I've overheard her gushing about you to Wendy. How could you lie to her and set her up to get hurt like that?"

"She's not going to get hurt, Sara." Shoulders slumped, he remorsefully said, "I know it isn't cool to lie to a friend, but…I figured if we went out and didn't hit it off romantically, no one would really be hurt. We'd realize we're just friend material and laugh it off. No harm, no foul and she'd get a free meal for her trouble."

"I don't like the idea of flirting with an unsuspecting friend to throw people off your trail while you're in a secret relationship with someone else."

"Uh, isn't that exactly what you were doing to me the whole time you were hot for Grissom and I was pursuing you?"

When she realized he was right, she stared gaped mouth. _Damn._

"I'll take that as a yes, Ms. Hypocrite." While his friend wallowed in guilt, Greg sweetly said, "You did it to protect the one you love and your relationship. Your motives weren't evil. Mine aren't either. If the world was a different place and I didn't have to worry about getting my ass kicked for being gay or be concerned that Nick and I will get hassled by homophobic cops, then I could live openly, but society is what it is and I have to do what I have do to protect myself and my family. I already know what happens when I don't play good defense, Sara, I learned that the hard way in an alleyway, remember?"

Understanding the fear and reasoning behind her friend's decision, she nodded, "Okay. Just be sure Mandy doesn't get hurt, because I know what betrayal feels like."

"I do too, so believe me, I won't let it happen." When Sara pushed up her sleeves, he saw a new bracelet around her wrist as well. "Looks like I'm not the only one who got new jewelry."

"Oh." After glancing around, she whispered, "I got this and an undividable dog."

"Since when did dividablility become a canine option?"

"Greg!" Grissom yelled from his office. "Glad you're in early. I've got something right up you alley." He walked over waving the slip. "Dumpster diving in an alley to be exact." After slapping the slip in the groaning CSIs hand, he smirked, "Miss me?"

"Not the part of you that sends me dumpster diving in dark alleys after dark, no."

"That reminds me," Grissom turned serious. "I received a note from Ecklie that said you missed your first Fire Arms Certification class. He wasn't happy. Neither am I."

"Oh shit." Greg pretended to act surprised.

"Give me a break, you missed it on purpose." The expert poker player knew Greg's tells. "You missed it because you know that if you miss one class, you're removed from the roster, which means you'll have to wait for the next session to begin in a couple of weeks. You need to be certified before you can move to CSI II, so unless you want to spend the rest of your career dumpster diving, you'll register for the next session and be at every class taking copious notes."

"Okay, okay." Greg glanced down at the address. "You want me to go here at night without a gun?"

"Yep." Grissom's cocky smile returned. "I thought it would be good motivation to get your ass to Fire Arms class." When he reached his office door, he teased, "Say goodbye to Greg, Sara!"

"Bye, Greg." She waved.

The already tweaked CSI's pulse notched. "Don't make it sound like I won't be coming back!"

"You'll be fine," Sara assured her obviously tweaked pal. "Grissom always said that line whenever he caught you flirting with me, remember?"

"Oh. Right." He calmed slightly and started down the hall. "I'll catch you later."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw Hodges leaving his lair with a smirk on his face. _Uh oh, here it comes. _But much to her surprise, the nosy lab rat completely ignored her and kept walking.

"Sanders!" Hodges blocked his way and enjoyed the view from the cat-bird seat. "Welcome back. How was the conference?"

Sara seized the opportunity and hurried away.

Greg smiled at his friend. "The conference was great, thank you for asking. I was nervous about giving the presentations, but I nailed it both times." He chuckled, "You were right, the cockroach racing was hilarious. Griss and I had a roach named Melvin and he took first place. Now I know why you love to go to forensics conferences, I bet even you score with the laaaaadies. It's geek paradise."

"Is that what you did? Score with the laaaadies all week?" Hodges could barely contain his glee. _What's that I smell? I do believe it's bullshit and it's being served right about now…_

"As a matter of fact, I did." Greg moved closer while snickering, "I hooked up with an older woman. Her name was Lucy and we had a ball. We had a Mrs. Robinson vibe goin' on and she was one kinky lady, let me tell you."

"Oh yes, do tell me. I want to learn from a real laaaaadies man." When Hodges saw the new bracelet around Greg's wrist, he admired it. "Did you get this from Mrs. Robinson?" _According to your mommy's website, it's an engagement bracelet._

"I got it for being a good boy toy if you can believe it."

"Oh, I believe it." Hodges examined it further. "You know, it looks very similar to the one worn by Brian Kinney on Queer as Folk." He smirked. "You know me and TV trivia."

"Really?" Greg shrugged. "I never saw an episode, so I'll have to take your word for it."

"Since I'm as straight as they come, my knowledge is strictly from TV magazines and trivia books. From what I recall reading about this particular cowry shell bracelet, a lot of gay men bought them after seeing the main character of Queer as Folk sporting one. People might think you're gay if you wear it."

Greg laughed, "Dude, half the shit I wear makes me look gay. Guys started calling me a faggot when I was twelve. I wear what I like, not what society dictates a guy should wear."

"It doesn't bother you that people call you gay when you're not?"

The CSI shrugged. "After being ripped apart in a courtroom and on TV, I'm done caring about what strangers think of me."

"That's very progressive of you." As his co-worker turned to leave, Hodges said, "Hey! I almost forgot to ask, how's your roomie? You do know he had a nervous breakdown while you were out of town, right?"

"He didn't have a nervous breakdown," Greg corrected in a snippy tone. "He was emotional from spending the day processing the worst scene of his life, a dead little girl shot at point blank range by her father. Unless you've been in that position, you can't possible understand what it does to your head." Realizing he sounded too emotionally invested in Nick, he pulled back, "Uh, anyway, he told me he got some R&R and he's doing much better now."

"Hopefully he went to a spa and got one of those relaxation packages." _Like the one your mommy spoke of on her tell-all web page! _"Did he get out of town?"

"I don't know. His sister is visiting with him and I only talked to him for a few minutes when I got home last night because they were catching up and I was beat from the drive home from California." Greg waved his assignment sheet. "Unlike you, I have a real job, so…"

"Careful now." Hodges's lips spread thin. "Take my word for it, **pal,** you don't want to get on my bad side."

Greg laughed at his co-worker, "You have a good side?"

"Aren't you a funny guy?" The all-knowing lab rat waved at his departing co-worker. "Tell Nick I said hi when you see him later." _In bed! That's right, loverboy, you heard me! _"Be careful out there, Sanders!" _I want you alive, so I can mess with your head!_ Returning to his lab, he rubbed his hands together and cackled like the maniacal genius he was, "Let the games begin."

* * *

Walking with Jacqui, Mandy asked, "How do you want to work through the…it's Greg. He's coming this way." 

When Greg saw Mandy at the end of the hall, he tensed.

"What should I say?" Mandy frantically whispered.

"You're asking me?" Jacqui laughed. "I haven't had a date since George Bush took office. I blame him as a matter of fact."

"Why?"

"Duh. Because I blame him for everything that's wrong in the world."

"Hey, ladies!" Greg enthusiastically greeted both women.

"Hey," Mandy parroted, while wondering if her future husband noticed her boob overhaul.

"Grissom has me heading out to a dumpster ASAP, so I can't talk, but I'll come find you when I get back, okay, Mandy?"

"What about me?" Jacqui teased, "Are you gonna find me too?" She shook her head. "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. You know, I've been watching Big Love on HBO. I could do polygamy if it's okay with the two of you."

When Mandy saw the panicked look on her date's face, she whispered, "I told her you asked me out and she's being a wise ass. I didn't really say I wanted to get married. Duh, of course not, we haven't even been out on a date yet. I won't bring up marriage until at least our third."

Greg cracked a sweat. "Uh…" _Did she get a boob job overnight?_

"That was a joke."

"Oh!" The CSI forced a laugh that bordered on psychotic. "Sorry, I have this assignment in a dark alley on my mind and I'm tense. I would've gotten the joke if I wasn't preoccupied. It was funny, it really was."

"Be careful, okay," Mandy remarked with affection in her voice. "Stay safe."

Jacqui watched the train wreck waiting to happen. _She's head over heels and he's totally using her to make Sara jealous! Ugh, men are pigs._

"Yeah, I…I'll be careful. Thanks." When Greg saw the concern in her eyes and heard it in her voice, he knew she cared a lot more than he had thought. _Dammit!_ "Sorry ...um…I have to go."

"Maybe call me when you're on your way back," Mandy suggested as her man was heading down the hall. "You know, so I know you're on your way back…so I don't worry. Not that I'm worried, because that would imply there was a reason to worry, which might worry you and why would I be worried about someone who I haven't even dated yet? I'll shut up now." She waved. "See ya."

"See ya," Greg gulped the lump in his throat. Suddenly the dark alley didn't seem half as scary as his upcoming date with sweet, innocent Mandy who was worried about his safety and secretly planning their wedding. _What was I thinking?!_

* * *

Alone with her significant other in his office, Sara said, "Hodges totally ignored me." 

"That's odd." Gil removed his reading glasses. "Not one quip?"

"No."

"A smirk in your direction?"

"Not at all. Nothing. Nada." She shrugged. "It was like nothing ever happened."

"Hmm." Gil sat back in his chair, chewing on the end of his glasses and after a moment of silence he said, "Now I'm really worried."

* * *

**AN: **

Thanks for reading! I was psyched to see that the first chapter didn't disappoint. I've thrown on a few more layers of complexity with this one and hope it was a fun read. I've replied to everyone who left comments and thank you for the feedback and encouragement on the new story.

KJT has been diligently editing on dial up, but I made a few tweaks while she was sleeping, so if you find any mistakes, they're mine : )

It's sort of canon that Bobby Dawson is secretly gay. They filmed him coming out for Grissom vs. The Volcano. The actor is gay and he had done publicity for it and everything, but at the eleventh hour they cut the scene. They were supposed to revisit it, but haven't.

The next chapter should be up around Monday : )

**Thanks,  
****Maggs **


	3. Chapter 3:Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 3: Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave**

"Grissom!" Ecklie called from his office doorway. It came as no surprise that the Graveyard Supervisor was busy having an intimate pow-wow in the hallway with Sara. "I need you to peel yourself away from CSI Sidle and come into my office." _I'm so tired of seeing those two tripping over each other. I wish they'd screw each other's brains out already, so they could start the inevitable downward slide toward hating each other like every other couple._

Surprised to see his boss at eleven pm, Gil replied, "I'll be right there, Conrad." _This can't be good._

"What's he doing here at this hour?" Sara queried, unaccustomed to seeing the weasel on the property past seven pm. Her professional relationship with the Assistant Lab Director had never fully recovered after the bastard suspended her and took Catherine's side. She would never be able to respect him after making such an obvious error in judgment and she still harbored negativity toward him for dogging on Gil one too many times. "I hope he doesn't make a habit of hanging around here at night. Not dealing with him is one of the biggest perks of working Graveyard."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Why do you think he made that comment about peeling yourself away from me?" Noticing Hodges watching them from the Trace Lab, she whispered, "You don't think a certain rat went to him with a suspicion, do you?"

"I'll let you know the answers to those questions and more as soon I return." Before heading down the hall, he whispered, "If don't make it out alive, tell Bruno that Daddy forgives him."

* * *

"I'm definitely going to die here," Greg whispered as he sat gripping the steering wheel of his Denali. _I can't call for cops, because I don't have a valid reason for needing them. There's no DB or crime scene, I'm only following up on an anonymous silent witness hotline tip. If I call for backup for no reason, the cops will blast me for wasting their time and call me every name in the book._ "This sucks!" _At least now if I die, I won't be dying a lonely man who never experienced true love and mind-blowing sex. It's nice to have those checked off my list. I still want to make it to the Great Barrier Reef though. If Cletus and I were happy on vacation in Catalina, I can't imagine how happy we'd be there._

Parked in an alleyway ten feet from the dumpster he had been told to check for evidence, he couldn't muster the courage to move. "Your plan isn't working, Grissom!" he shouted into his hands. "I still don't want to go to Fire Arms class." _I don't want a gun. If I have a gun, I might have to shoot it and if I shoot my gun, I might kill someone, and since I'm still having a hard time getting over the first person I killed, I really can't imagine dealing with a second one. _"Shit!"

He spent the next ten minutes counting the people walking by the dumpster he was expected to climb into and process – nine of the largest African American men he had ever seen, five hostile Hispanics violently arguing amongst themselves, two drugged-out transvestite hookers wearing red wigs, and one twitchy-looking white guy who gave off an intense serial killer vibe and terrified him most of all. _I can totally see that guy making a human skin jacket or some other equally creepy death-craft. I can't do this._ "I can't do this!" Tears pooled in his eyes.

_I can't believe I want this job. _Holding his head, Greg felt his chili and cornbread dinner swimming in his stomach. _Why do I want this job? I should listen to my mother. I can't believe I just said I should listen to my mother. She's right though, I could be pulling six figures at any pharmaceutical research company in California and if we lived there, Cletus and I could declare a Domestic Partnership and live happily ever after. Sure, we couldn't get much of a house with the high real estate prices, but we could use The Freyja whenever we wanted, and surf and kayak all the time. That would totally make up for a smaller house, plus the coastal weather would be a huge improvement after living in an oven for years. When we have a kid in the future, my parents would be close by to help out and I could get my PhD at UCLA and start teaching college classes in my spare time. I'm sure Cletus would have no problem getting a lab-only job with LAPD. Yep, it's perfect, except for me living with the intense shame of copping out. _"Dammit!"

Staring at the overflowing dumpster that might contain a murder weapon, but most likely didn't, he figured it would take two hours to process it correctly. _I'll be totally vulnerable in that dumpster. I can't defend myself in there. Not that I did a good job defending myself outside of a dumpster. I bet I couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag while holding a pair of scissors in each hand._ "I'm such a friggin' loser!" He banged his forehead on the steering wheel intent on repeating the action several times, but it hurt too much to continue after one. _Maybe I won't have to be the one to cop out. If Nick doesn't pass his Psych Eval, then I can suggest the move because of that. I'll say a fresh start is just what he needs and play up the Domestic Partnership and free babysitting angles. _His joy was fleeting. _No, no way. If Mr. Perfectionist fails his test and is removed from the job, he'll feel like a big fat failure and be an emotional wreck. I don't want that, not when everything is going so well for us. He's so happy and all I want is for him to be happy, because he's had so many shitty things happen to him in life. I have to do this for him…for us. _He glanced down at the bracelet around his wrist."I can do this!"

As he was reaching for the handle, he saw a six foot, three hundred pound black man wearing a t-shirt that said 'Don't make fun of my Momma, unless you wanna die today'. _On second thought, why bother? There's no way Cletus will be sane enough to pass his Psych Eval after spending a week with his Bible-Thumping sister._

* * *

Standing in front of the picture-covered fridge, Eileen said to her brother, "Look at you playin' Daddy to this sweet little Cassie girl you told me about. You look so happy, Nicky. It really is a travesty that you're not married with children of your own." 

_Here we go._ "Eileen, I have to tell ya…I put up with the 'why aren't you married' badgering from everyone when I'm in Dallas, but this is **my home**, and I'm not gonna be hassled me under my own roof. So, you need to stop right now or you'll need to pack your things and find yourself a hotel room."

"Honey, I swear on Grandma's grave that this isn't about hasslin' you, it's about lovin' you." Placing a hand over her heart, she shared, "If you wouldn't avoid answerin' our questions, maybe we could relax enough to stop worryin' about you. Everybody back home is expectin' me to solve the Nicky Mystery while I'm here. We're still tryin' to understand why you moved away from us in the first place, to Sin City of all places."

"What's there to be worried about?" he quizzed, feigning a baffled look. "I have a job, a nice home, and I'm not a gambling addict, meth head or a drunk." He patted his belly, "Don't I look healthy to you? I've put on ten pounds since Christmas." When he saw her chomping on her bottom lip, he prodded, "What else do you want to know?" Greg had made him promise he wouldn't confront her, but understood that he wouldn't lie to his sister's face if she asked him about being gay. "Spit it out, sis." Exhausted from hiding the truth from his family for decades, he was desperate to answer 'yes, I'm gay' and let the chips fall.

"Fine, I'll put my cards on the table," Eileen stated after a moment of tortured silence. "How am I supposed to interpret two single men in their 30's cohabitatin' and bein' close enough to one another to finish each other's sentences? You're plannin' a big party for Greg's birthday and instead of bein' out on a date on your night off, you're here doin' his laundry and talkin' about gettin' a dog for the two of you to share." Reminding herself to hate the sin, not the sinner, she softened her voice, "Nicky, honey, I've seen you touch and hug him and in my opinion, it isn't brotherly affection you're showin' him." Her heart racing, she nervously asked, "Is this why you moved to Vegas? To live with men and be a…"

"**No!** No, that's not why I moved here," he snipped. "I moved here because I wanted to get away from my family. All through school I was the little brother, who wasn't as smart or fast or strong or handsome as Chuck. I was Judge Stokes's** other** son, the one who wasn't as gifted or well behaved or successful. I was the little brother you bitched about havin' to keep a closer eye on and help with his homework more than anyone else. After college graduation, I stupidly thought I could return to Dallas and live my own life, but all I heard **every week** at Sunday supper was 'how can you **just **want to be a cop for the rest of your life?' or 'why don't you want to go to graduate or law school like the rest of us' or 'how about I fix you up with a nice girl from church'." He met his sister's gaze. "Do you get it now? I left because y'all drove me nuts! Just like you're drivin' me nuts right now and I moved to Sin City because I figured it was the last place my conservative family members would ever want to come for a visit. Mystery solved!"

None of the information really came as a surprise to the sister who had always suspected that her underachieving brother couldn't stand being in the shadow of his successful siblings.

After a swig of beer, Nick continued, "Here's another one for you to share with the folks back home - I'm not married, because until recently I was a workaholic who had no time for a serious relationship. I was workin' like a dog because I had somethin' to prove to the Judge and I stupidly believed that I could make him proud without bein' a lawyer or a Ph.D. I thought catchin' a big serial killer would do it or savin' little girls like Cassie from death's door, but no, ma'am, it wasn't, I'm still the black sheep."

"Honey, I know that you saw the worst of Daddy's wrath because he had no patience by the time you came along, but none of us were spared, believe me. But he loves us, he's just not real good at showin' it, that's just how he is, how he ended up after bein' a Marine and servin' in Korea, but look how he raced here offerin' his last dime when you were kidnapped. Let his actions speak for his love and let go of the anger that's ruinin' your life and relationships with men."

"Okay, what do these actions say?" His anger igniting, he shared, "In the hospital, he stood at my bedside and said, 'Nicholas, I need you to explain how a thirty-three year old man, in good health, who was carryin' a gun and trained in self-defense, got overpowered by an old man with no special skills. I need you to explain it, because I don't get it, but maybe that's just because when I was servin' my country durin' the Korean War, I fought off four men my own age with nothin' but my bare hands and the will to survive.' When I didn't answer, he said, 'Let me guess, you were distracted or too focused on what you were doin' to notice what was goin' on around you. How many times have I heard that over the years? Too many! You put your Mama through hell tonight, probably took years off her life. When you get out of here, I want you to do us all a favor and grow the hell up. Start actin' like a man, instead of a boy who's too busy daydreamin' to remember to look both ways before crossin' the street!'"

"He said that to you?"

"Yes! Does that sound like love to you, sis? What kind of man** still** gets pissed at his grown son for gettin' hit by a car at the age of 12 and thinks it's a good idea to rub it in his face while he's shakin' like a leaf in a hospital bed with four thousand ant bites burnin' his body?! A pretty sick fuck, pardon my language, that's who! I'm happy as hell not to be livin' anywhere near him." Enjoying the shock on his sister's face, he smiled, "In case you were wonderin', you have my permission to quote me on that."

"Nicky…"

"What else do you need answered, Eileen?" he stated like a dare.

"Why did you really ask Greg to move in here?"

"Because I was tired of livin' alone." He egged her on, "Keep goin', sis. I know there's somethin' else you're dyin' to ask me."

"How long are you gonna let him stay?"

"Forever," he replied, the anticipation mounting.

Her heart hammering in her chest, she stammered, "Nicky, are you…um…are you…" Fearing the answer, she was too afraid to ask the question.

His eyes locked on his jittery sister, Nick sucked in a breath and released the words that would change everything. "Gay?" His mouth curved into a serene smile. "Yes." His shoulders immediately felt lighter. "I'm gay." Before his sister could form a reply, his cell phone rang and startled them both. When he saw it was Greg, he said, "Sorry, I need to take this call."

Her worst fears becoming a reality, Eileen turned her watery eyes to the ceiling. _Remember what the Reverend said today. Homosexuality isn't about sex, it's a developmental disorder. It is a person's misguided search for belonging, a desperate attempt at getting attention, affection and approval from a man in lieu of getting it from their father. It manifests as sex, but it's really an emotional void they are trying to fill. _

When Nick snapped his phone shut, he said, "Greg's in a jam over somethin' work related and I have to give him a hand. I'm gonna be a while." The spell broken, he couldn't believe he had spilled the secret and he reacted by pretending it hadn't happened, "You need to get some rest anyway, or you'll be noddin' off durin' the preachin' tomorrow." His body trembling, he walked away without making eye contact. "I'll see you in the mornin'. Good night, sis."

"Night," she robotically replied, too stunned to believe the exchange had really occurred.

* * *

_I can't believe this. _While waiting outside the locker room for Catherine, Warrick seized the opportunity to return Tina's seven irate voicemails. "Hey, it's 'Rick, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I was swamped at work. I'm sure you'll find that believable since me workin' overtime all the time was the reason you couldn't stand to be married to my ass anymore." Realizing he was beating a dead horse, he cut to the chase, "I looked for your Pampered Chef ice cream scoop in my boxes and I don't have it, sorry. I also wanted you to know that I got our court date off when I told Grissom that we had to be there 8am, so I won't be late. I'll be there right on time on May 4th for the dissolution of Brown and Brown, Inc, nothing will get in my way of making that happen, believe me. My condolences on your ice cream scoop, but I'm sure you'll find a new one fast, just like you found a new man in record time." 

"I'm ready!" Catherine announced when she breezed into the hallway.

Snapping his phone shut, Warrick said, "Grissom wants us to check up on Greg without lettin' on that we're there."

"That sounds a lot like spying," she said while walking down the hall with the man she was secretly dating and openly lusting every night as she slept alone. "I don't like spying on people. It's unethical."

"Griss sent him into the hood as a test and to motivate him to get his ass to Fire Arms class, because the fool purposely missed the first class so he'd be booted from the session." He opened the front door for the woman of his naughtiest dreams. "Normally, I would agree about the ethics of spying. But he just wants us to make sure he's okay without makin' him feel bad. That's not really spying, that's being concerned and making sure he's safe, doncha think?"

"I think it just reminds me of my mother snooping in my room when I was teenager."

"Wasn't she snooping to make sure you weren't doin' drugs?"

"Yeah."

"See, she was tryin' to keep you safe." Shaking his head, Warrick admitted, "If I had a teenage daughter in this city, I don't think I'd let her leave the house."

"Tell me about it," she sighed, thinking of Lindsay's latest act of rebellion. "I can't believe Greg missed that class again."

"Third time is not a charm and Ecklie's not amused."

* * *

"Aren't you happy, Gil?" Ecklie asked with a smile. 

"No."

"You're not being demoted," the Assistant Lab Director reiterated, "you're just no longer responsible for Graveyard Shift on the weekends. Normal men would be thrilled to learn they would be paid the same for less responsibility, but you…you're ticked off."

"I don't like change," Grissom huffed. "The last time you messed with my team, all hell broke loose."

"I'm not touching your guys, Gil." Taking a seat in the chair next to his irritated employee, he explained, "We currently have three teams and everyone is overworked and stressed out. The thing with Stokes was the final straw. I used his flip out, Greg's error in judgment earlier this year, Stan's burnout on Days, and Terri's exhaustion-induced accident on Swing as examples of serious personnel consequences due to understaffing. Between my personnel examples and the financial reasoning, the Sheriff approved my plan without any pushback."

Grissom took the file Ecklie was offering him and flipped it open.

"Look at the figures, you'll see I'm right." The number-cruncher explained, "Overtime is maxed every month and it's costing us a fortune, and even with everyone working to the max, we're still backlogged up to yang. Instead of stretching team members and supervisors over a seven day work week, you'll only be working Monday through Friday. I'm creating two weekend shifts, Day and Grave, each with its own supervisor. The new teams will work twelve hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday and then each employee will have sixteen hours left of their forty hour work week. Each person will be assigned two 8-hour shifts during the week, but still ultimately report to their weekend supervisor. Their job description will make it clear that we can adjust their hours whenever we're in a crunch. For example, if the new personnel were in place already, I could make one of them Nick's replacement for a couple of weeks to help you out, rather than you counting on Sanders, Sidle, Willows and Brown to pick up the slack. These floaters will cover for vacationing or sick team members, and we won't have to worry about being empty handed for things like testifying in time consuming court trials. Also, when you need to do team training, you'll be able to pull your whole team out for a day to do it. That's going to make things a hell of a lot easier, don't you think?"

"Yes," Grissom begrudgingly agreed.

"The addition of two teams will drastically help with the workload and make excess overtime obsolete. We'll be saving money and when we save money on staffing, that means there's more money left over for those gadgets you like so much."

Studying the figures on the paperwork given to him, Grissom couldn't argue with the logic.

"The city's a lot bigger than when we started working here, Gil." Ecklie stood to return to his desk chair. "And unfortunately, the crime rate is up and shows no signs of slowing. Our peers in LA have been using this format for years, so it won't look like you couldn't handle things, believe me. It's practically industry-standard." Taking a seat he snickered, "Maybe you'll have time to get a social life with weekends off. Don't be a martyr, Gil. You're fifty, it's time to start spending your weekends with a live body instead of a dead one. Even a woman as needy as Sidle probably won't wait for you forever."

Grissom lifted his eyes from the file.

"How blind do you think I am?" Ecklie laughed. "I know you two have been longing to fall into bed with each other for years. Maybe you should go for it?" He cackled, "Department policy states that supervisors can't marry their employees. Unless it interferes with your work, I can't do anything about it, but if it does interfere with your work, I'll fire your gilfriend." He pointed to the door. "You can go now." But when Gil stood, he remembered one last detail. "By the way, the supervisor jobs for the new teams will be open to CSIs in good standing, meaning no write-ups in the last couple of years. On your team of misfits, only CSI Brown qualifies, kind of ironic since he used to be your biggest problem child. I think he would make an excellent supervisor."

"Really?" Grissom said with surprise. "I agree, but I'm surprised to hear it coming from you. You've never been a big fan of his."

"The truth is…and this is confidential between you and me, the Sheriff said, 'LVPD has taken its fair share of criticism thanks to Sanders using his county-issued truck to make a blood pancake out of Demetrius James. It sure would be nice to have a black guy in management over there at the lab'. Twenty bucks says CSI Brown does **very well** in the interview process."

Rolling his eyes, Grissom headed down the hall. _I hate office politics._

* * *

When he strolled into the breakroom to refill his Partridge Family coffee mug, Hodges caught Jacqui and Mandy laughing at the water cooler. "What has you two so giddy tonight?" He sipped his java to see if he had the milk ratio right. 

Jacqui accidentally blurted the truth, "Ms. Webster has a hot date with CSI Sanders and I was just razzing her about it."

"Franco!" As Hodges choked on his coffee, Mandy scolded her friend, "Are you out of your mind? Why would you tell David Blabbermouth Hodges anything personal?"

"Doh!" Jacqui tossed her Snickers wrapper in the trash. "Maybe that fall at Starbucks was more serious than I thought. My judgment is obviously very impaired." With that, she darted out of the room.

"What are you waiting for, Mrs. Kravitz?" Mandy droned to the man who irritated her on a nightly basis, "You have fresh rumor to spread, so why are you still standing here?"

"Greg Sanders asked you out?" Hodges clarified, "Sanders, five ten, Norwegian, always having a bad hair day, likes to think he's smarter than me, but isn't?"

The Fingerprint Tech rolled her eyes. "Just leave it alone, okay? Greg's had a really rough year and we'd both like to keep our relationship quiet."

"Relationship? You have **a relationship** with him?"

"Okay, okay," Mandy laughed at herself. "It's only our first date, but it's not like we're strangers and it's bound to go well." _Or is that just wishful thinking because all three of my happily married sisters are simultaneously happily pregnant and making me desperate for a walk down the aisle? _

"Wow, you really like him," Hodges remarked, suddenly feeling bad for the girl who he knew had been unlucky in love more times than she liked to admit. Most tragically, her college boyfriend was killed in a freak hot air balloon accident only days before he was going to propose to her. He was trying out the idea of popping the question on a sunset balloon ride, but dropped the ring over the side of the basket and went to retrieve it, forgetting that they had already launched into the air. Then, during her first year at LVPD, she dated a guy who ended up being a serial killer; when they searched his apartment, Mandy's name was next on his death list. It was true, her love life was as depressing as the Barry Manilow song for which she was named.

"Yes, I really like him, so can we not make a joke out of this and just leave it alone?"

The Trace Tech found himself having a crisis of conscience, which surprised him, since he often accused of not having a conscience. "Uh…"

"What's wrong?" Mandy's sixth sense that she inherited from her Grandmother Inez kicked in. "You're hiding something."

"No, I'm not the one hiding something, it's your date who is hiding something…something huge."

"Stop it!" Mandy took her coffee and tucked her magazine under her arm. "Forget it, you can have the place to yourself."

"Wait!" Knowing that she'd never believe him, he waved for her to follow him into his lab. "I had no intentions of sharing this information, but I can't stand by and let him use you like this."

"Who use me how?" she snipped.

"Sanders," he whispered in reply. "Just trust me. One look at this website and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about."

"This better be good."

_Not for you it won't be._ Hodges locked his door and made sure his computer's screen was angled so it wouldn't be visible to passersby. "You better sit."

Rolling her eyes, Mandy humored the psycho. "You have two minutes of my time, that's it."

Right before pressing 'enter' he handed her two tissues. "The truth will hurt, but it's better that you find out now and not after you carry around his beard-child for nine months."

"Now, Hodges!" Her patience was gone.

"I found this while surfing the Internet the other night." He hit 'enter' and walked away, unable to stomach another look for himself.

Mandy stared at the screen. "Pictures of Greg?"

"Yes." He spoke in a somber tone as he paced his office, "If you need a rebound man, I'll be happy to fill the need. I'd let you rough me up if…"

"Ha! They're so cute!" Her sweet laughter filled the room as she clicked on each thumbnail.

"Cute?" That wasn't the first word that had popped into his mind when he saw the cozy photos of his co-workers.

She pointed to the screen. "The one of him using a hotdog as a microphone as he stood on top of a picnic table imitating Elvis is a riot!"

"What are you talking about?" Hodges rushed to her side.

"And here I thought you were going to show me something bad. You really had me going. These are hilarious!" Looking at the adorable moppet splashing in the ocean as a little boy she fell in love. "His hair was just as wacky back then."

"What happened?!" he screamed at the computer screen. The title of the site had changed to 'A Proud Mom's Website' all references to PFLAG and Nick were gone.

Mandy jotted down the website address. "This is a keeper."

"It was," Hodges lamented as sat gaping at the revised website. "I don't get it."

* * *

When Dave Sanders caught his wife in front of the computer again, he said, "You better not be putting up a new secret website." He still couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to put up a webpage with Nick and Greg's photos. 

"No, Dear, I learned my lesson. It's strictly about his childhood. I thought Nicky would get a kick out of it."

"Okay." Luckily he had caught her, removed everything incriminating and made sure the WayBackMachine wouldn't be able to snag the old version.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Jan grumped, "I was just trying to show my support and you keep making me feel bad."

"Sorry, we just have to be very careful, honey." He placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "There are plenty of other ways to show your support without compromising Greg's privacy."

* * *

"There's his Denali," Warrick parked his truck two hundred yards away and reached for a pair of binoculars from his console box. 

Catherine already had her binocs in hand. "Guess who beat us to the punch?"

"Grissom?"

"No. Nicky." He was sitting on the hood of his truck while Greg was in the dumpster.

"Seriously?" Warrick raised his night vision equipment and laughed, "Greggy must have been shittin' a brick and called him to come out here and babysit him."

"Grissom will be pissed."

"We don't have to tell him."

"Nick coming to his rescue isn't going to help him get over his fear."

"He's taking a big risk doin' it too, considering he's suspended."

While she continued watching, Catherine said, "As long as he's not helping him collect evidence, he's not violating the terms of his suspension."

"He's on his way over to the dumpster right now."

"There's no tape up, so he's not interfering with a crime scene as long as he doesn't touch the contents of the dumpster."

"I guess, but…" Warrick's jaw dropped.

When Catherine turned to ask "Did you see what I just saw?" she knew the answer was a resounding yes and returned her binoculars to her face quickly.

"Did Nicky just feed that boy somethin'?"

"Yes, and he's not dangling the food, he's sticking it into his mouth," Catherine gave the play by play like a sportscaster.

"Um…" Warrick searched for a logical explanation. "Sanders is gloved up, so he couldn't feed himself."

"Would you have done that for Greg?"

"Hell no!" the hetero man answered with conviction. "Not even if he was starving, but they're roommates and they're lily white Mama's Boys, the rules are a little different y'know?"

"Not that different," Catherine deadpanned while watching Greg clamp down on Nick's fingers, close his eyes, joyfully suck off whatever substance was on them and smack his lips in satisfaction.

"That shit's not right."

"Maybe this is a set up and we're on Candid Camera or something." She peered out the windows looking for a video crew.

"What the…check this out, Cath." Nick was caressing Greg's cheek and gazing into his eyes.

"Do you think they're…"

"No!" Warrick answered, unwilling to believe he could have been showering next to a gay man for eight years without getting a vibe. "We're outta here." He tossed the binoculars and threw the truck in reverse. "And we're callin' Griss and telling him that we're ethically opposed to violating our co-worker's privacy and won't be stopping by on the way to our assignment."

Clutching her head, Catherine whimpered, "Oh sure, take a stand **now**, after the damage to my mind's eye has been done."

* * *

Walking into the drying room, Gil happily informed his lover, "Ecklie doesn't think we're together. He thinks we're still flirting with the idea." 

"Seriously?" Sara turned from her work wearing a smile. "So Hodges didn't rat us out?"

"Apparently not." Gil handed over a copy of the new schedule. "I was brilliant. I feigned irritation over the idea of having weekends available for personal use. He actually encouraged me to sleep with you, citing that it wasn't against department policy, but in the next breath he warned that if it interfered with a case then he'd fire you." The Lab's top dog scoffed at the empty threat. "He already tried that once and chickened out."

Looking up from the schedule, she said, "He's bringing in a weekend team and we're permanently working Monday through Friday midnight to nine am?"

"Yes."

"That's…wow."

"I know." Gil snickered, "What will we do with the extra time?"

"Play with our new dog, of course."

His naughty smirk faded. "Of course."

"Look at you," she smiled proudly at her man, "you're really excited about this. I'm kind of surprised."

"I'm very excited about this, and not only because we'll have two permanent nights together, though that is a wonderful perk." Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he confessed, "Maybe I wouldn't have needed a sabbatical if I had weekends off to clear my head and work on publications and lectures. Now I'll be able to pursue those things at home with you there, instead of leaving town and you to do it."

She smiled in lieu of words.

"Back to work, CSI Sidle," Gil authoritatively commanded his supposed non-lover. "The County doesn't pay you to stand around and look beautiful." He winked before heading out the door. "But I have to admit, it's a wonderful bonus."

* * *

With his eyes still on his work, Archie droned to Hodges, "I don't get paid to answer personal questions." 

"I'll buy you lunch."

"What kind of lunch? Not LVPD cafeteria slop or Roach Coach."

"Chinese food from the new place 24-hour place across the street." Hodges had a 'buy one combo get one free' coupon to use.

"Deal." Archie laughed as he sat back in his chair. "What's your question?"

"I'm looking for a previous version of an existing website with the WayBackMachine and it's not working. Why isn't it working?" Hodges asked in a desperate voice.

"The site could use robots.txt coding, or maybe the version wasn't up long enough to be swept up."

"So, it's hopeless?"

Archie lowered his voice to a whisper. "How hot was this porn?"

"It wasn't porn."

"Right." The AV Tech cracked his knuckles. "Give me the addy and I'll see what I can do."

"I can't."

"I knew it was porn."

"Thanks for your help," Hodges huffed on his way out the door. Although he had copies of the three Nick and Greg photos at home, it was a far cry from having the 'Proud PFLAG Mom' website in its entirety.

Archie rolled on his chair to the door, so he could shout after his co-worker, "I eat lunch at four-thirty!"

* * *

Sitting on his truck's hood, Nick held up the bag of brownies. "Need another sugar fix?" 

"No, I'm good," Greg replied while dropping Bag 26 over the side of the dumpster.

"Hey, G?"

"Yeah?" The trash-covered CSI peered over the side of the smelly container.

"I kind of maybe told my sister the truth."

"What?!" Greg couldn't believe his ears. "What do you mean 'kind of maybe'? What did you say, Cletus?"

"I'm gay." When he saw his partner roll his eyes, Nick said, "I know we talked about a strategy, but the moment was there and it slipped out."

"Unbelievable. How did you leave it?"

"It was happening right when you called, so I told her I needed to help you and walked out to come here."

"You don't look the least bit worried or upset," Greg observed, feeling bad for not being more supportive of the announcement.

"I'm not." The man who had been living a lie for decades, calmly said, "It feels so good. I feel like two tons of weight has been lifted from my shoulders."

"Do you think she'll tell your parents?"

"I don't know." Nick shrugged. "I kinda don't care."

"You're scaring me, Cletus." The CSI jumped from the rim of the dumpster onto the street. "Even though you ignored our plan, all the literature, and common sense, I'm proud of you."

"You should be proud, because you're the one who keeps sayin' I need to be more spontaneous and not care what other people think."

A smile erupted on Greg's face. "No one ever listens to me, so I'm not used to getting results."

"With you in my corner, I had all the confidence in the world." Dropping a hand on his partner's shoulder, he said, "Speakin' of confidence. You need to go to Fire Arms Class, because I won't be able to babysit you once I get my job back in two weeks. Take it from the expert, if you face your fear head on, you'll succeed and feel much better afterwards."

"If you could come out to your sister, I can pass the class. I'll do it. I promise."

"Good." Nick quietly said, "I can't have anything happen to you, G, except for maybe my sister Gwen, you may be the only family I have left after this hits the fan. You're everything to me."

"Don't forget, you have got my folks too," Greg assured while savoring the love in Nick's eyes. "You know my dad will do anything for his jock son-in-law."

They shared a laughed that snapped them back to happiness.

"I hate to break up the party!" Grissom announced as he strolled down the alley shining his flashlight, "but I don't remember giving you an invitation, Nick, and Greg – you can't bring a bodyguard to every scary field assignment."

"Busted," Greg muttered as he hung his head.

"I swear I was just givin' him a pep talk about Fire Arms Class, Boss." Nick backed away with his hands in the air like a suspect. "I didn't touch anything."

"Except the CSI working the assignment," Grissom corrected.

"I meant I didn't touch any evidence."

Not amused, the supervisor lectured, "I'll tell you two the same thing I told Catherine - no PDAs while on duty, no exceptions. You never know who is watching. Remember the time Sara was on the witness stand under cross-exam and they blasted her about wiping chalk dust off my cheek at a scene? Don't give anyone ammunition to use against you in court. Am I clear?"

Nick and Greg exchanged looks, both thinking the same thing 'I can't wait to catch Griss touching Sara and bust his ass'. "Yes, Boss," they simultaneously replied. "Sorry."

"Stokes, you have fifteen seconds to bid your partner adieu, then I want you and your truck out of here." Grissom glanced down at his watch. "Time starts now."

* * *

"Maybe it's not too late," Eileen whispered into her cell phone as she stood outside her brother's bedroom door. "He said he's gay, but he may not be actively livin' the lifestyle. It may all be wishful thinkin' with Greg. He said he asked him to move in here because he was tired of livin' alone and was hopin' it would last forever. For all we know, Greg has no idea how Nicky feels." 

"You said he'll be gone a while, why don't you peek in his room and see what you find. Go through his drawers and closet."

"That wouldn't be right, Linda."

"Think of it like when Mama and Daddy used to check our rooms for drugs as teenagers. It's not snoopin', it's tough love. If Nicky's physical and mental wellbeing is at risk, we can't be worried about offendin' him. We have to take action."

"Well, when you put it that way." After a deep breath, the concerned sister twisted the door knob. "It's locked, I can't get in."

"Why on Earth would he keep his bedroom door locked? That's sneaky behavior right there. Use a Bobby Pin to pick open the lock. That's what I do when I want to see inside Carl's briefcase."

"You sneak peeks into your husband's briefcase?"

After an awkward pause, Linda snipped, "Would you just focus on gettin' into Nicky's room, Eileen, and mind your own business!"

Four minutes later, once she had successfully worked open the lock with a Bobby Pin, the troubled sister stepped into her brother's room and flicked on the lights. "I'm inside."

"What color is his room? Is it somethin' girly?"

"It's a duck theme."

"What? **A duck theme**?" Linda exclaimed, "Honey, that's totally queer. Ernie always played with a rubber duckie on Sesame Street, remember? And he and Bert were proven to be queer, remember that article we…"

"Good Lord, Linda, no, not rubber duckies, **huntin' ducks**. The bedding is brown, beige and forest green plaid with mallards on the throw pillows and there are mallards in reeds on the accents and border paper."

"Oh! I guess rubber duckies popped into my head because I was tidyin' the kids' bathroom when you called and they have a bunch stacked on the back of the tub." Linda confirmed, "Duck huntin' is a masculine hobby, so that's encouragin'."

"I just remembered that Mama fixed up Nicky's room when she was out here stayin' with him after the abduction, so he didn't do the decoratin'."

"Right, right." Linda advised, "Check the nightstand drawers first, everybody knows that's where the kinky stuff is kept."

"Speak for yourself, hussy," Eileen joked. "Now that Trevor and I are done havin' sex except for Valentines' Day, Flag Day, his birthday and our anniversary , my nightstand is for my Bible and my cross-stitch supplies."

"Flag day?"

"We needed somethin' in the middle of the year and I'm always exhausted after barbequing on the 4th." When Eileen opened the first set of the drawers, she found only Forensics and Sports Magazines, but then she opened the other side, she gasped, "Condoms and two bottles of somethin' called Astroglide."

"Are they open?"

"No, they're sealed actually."

"That's good news!" Linda rejoiced. "Maybe he's not done the deed yet. Go check the bathroom next."

"Greg asked to use Nicky's shower earlier." When Eileen reached the bathroom, she huffed, "Wow, I'm totally jealous of his master suite. There's a Jacuzzi type tub and a separate tile shower that's huge and has two massaging shower heads."

Linda broke the bad news, "Honey, the gays like to have three and foursomes, maybe that's why he bought that place. It sounds like a gay man's paradise."

"Oh God!" Eileen gasped when she peered into the shower.

"What?!"

"There's an empty condom wrapper on the floor of the shower and a half-used bottle of lubricant sittin' between the shampoo and conditioner!" Eileen's stomach sickened as she recalled the men comin' into the kitchen saying they had worked up big appetites. "Those two Sodomites were in here while I was cooking their dinner! They said Greg's shower wasn't workin', so they had to share. Can you believe what a lyin', manipulative sinner our sweet little brother has become? I'm sick to my stomach. I can't believe he's flauntin' these vile lubricants and condoms in front of me."

"Think of the germs in there, honey, you best get out of that bathroom quick."

"I think I may vomit."

"You have to pack your bags and leave right now!" Linda advised. "You can't live in Sodom while attendin' a Bible conference."

"Oh." Eileen froze in the hallway. "Um."

"What?"

"It's just that hotel rooms are very expensive here and Trevor and I don't have extra cash this month."

"You can't live with sinners just because you want to save money."

"We have five kids to feed at home. I can't be spendin' a thousand unplanned dollars."

"This is no time to be cheap, sis!"

"Well, if you feel that strongly about it, then why don't you pay for my room, Linda?!"

After a moment of silence, the twin sister said, "On second thought, you should stay there, because we wouldn't want anyone from church to think there's a problem. They can't know we have a queer in the family. Look what happened to Aunt Annette and Uncle Len when the congregation found out about Cousin Roy. And can you imagine the flack Daddy would take in his political circles if they found out he had a queer son? For now, let's keep it between us and try to convince Nicky he needs help."

"I think that's a good plan."

"Just remember, when you're livin' in a gay hot zone, you have to be real careful about germs. I'd sit on a towel at all times and don't let them cook for you. It's not just AIDS you have to worry about, lots of them have Hepatitis and STDs"

"Okay."

"And don't let Nicky kiss you, not even on the cheek, because they put their mouths everywhere, even in each other's cracks."

Eileen shivered when she thought about her brother kissing her cheek after he might have kissed Greg's. "I don't know if I can stay here after all."

"It's the only way! You have to pretend you're supportive and get close to them," Linda said, "then once you've gained their trust, make your plea for Nicky's soul and beg him to get into a Reparative Therapy Program."

"What if he resists?"

"I'll call over to the Focus on the Family folks in the mornin', I'm pretty sure their Love in Action group can advise us on how to stage a proper intervention. I know they have a rehab center where men can go for a while to get cured just like there are places for drug addicts. Getting him in there for a couple of months is probably his best shot a full recovery."

"This is going to be so hard," Eileen cried as the night's events took their toll.

"Honey, you were obviously chosen for this task for a reason and you must accept the challenge. Come on, let's pray on it together. Heavenly Father, please let our brother realize how far he's strayed from the teachings of Jesus Christ."

* * *

"Here you go, Sally," Nick handed over the large coffee cup and took a seat on the bus stop bench next to homeless fifty-six year old woman he had befriended years ago when working the case of a dead teenager found in a cardboard box. Since Grissom had ordered him to leave Greg alone and he had no desire to return home to his sister, he had gone for a walk on The Strip. "That's hot tea with honey, that should help the congestion a bit." 

"Is there booze in here, Stokes?" the woman asked with a hopeful lilt.

"No, ma'am." Nick shook his finger. "You know I won't buy ya booze, Sally."

"But booze is good for a cold."

"You know the rules, I'll help you any way I can, but I won't enable your addiction."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, tough love and all that bullshit. If you weren't so damn cute, I woulda told you and your preachy attitude to fuck off years ago, Stokes."

Laughing with the woman, he handed over a plastic shopping bag. "I got you some cough drops…"

"Not menthol I hope."

"Darlin'." He pressed a palm to his heart. "I know what my best girl likes and what she doesn't. Cherry cough drops, non-menthol, two Hershey bars without nuts and a bottle of Sprite for when you get the shakes, three sticks of non-spicy Beef Jerky and a gossip magazine."

"Ooh!" She dove into the bag. "Who's fuckin' up this week? Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan?"

"Both." Smiling, he sat back and sipped his coffee, watching the crowds mill by. "Are the streets treatin' you okay?"

"Better than that damn place you brought me too, that's for sure."

"No, no, no, that was a real nice place," he sighed, "you just didn't like it because they wouldn't let you drink. You coulda cleaned up and called your daughter, but you walked out."

Not in the mood for a lecture, she changed the subject, "Why aren't you workin' tonight, CSI man?"

"I've got a couple of weeks off."

"Vacation?"

"Somethin' like that."

Sally laughed, "You didn't get stuffed in a coffin and bit up by ants again did ya?" When he told her the story the first time, she felt bugs crawling on her for hours afterwards.

"No," he answered with a smile. "No coffins or fire ants, but my Holy Roller sister is in town for a visit, that's torture in its own right. So, yeah, I'm not in the mood to spend the night at home."

"You want to sleep with me, handsome? I've got a fresh newspaper and it's a full moon." Sally slid her pant leg to her knee, exposing her hairy leg. "Think you can handle a real woman, Tex?"

"I'm flattered, really," he sweetly chuckled, "but I got engaged last week and I don't think my fiancée would approve."

"Why are all the good ones are taken or gay?" Sally grumbled while releasing her pant leg. "What's a single girl gotta do to get a date around here?"

* * *

Sitting in the Fingerprint Lab doing the same mundane tasks she did night after night, Mandy passed the time daydreaming. "Do you think we should go to Fiji or Belize on our honeymoon?" 

Jacqui glanced up, "I didn't even know we were getting married, honey. Which one of us is the groom?"

"Very funny."

"Ooh, here comes loverboy now." Jacqui pointed when she saw Greg trudging down the hall in his work coveralls. "Looking particularly unappealing I might add."

"Really?" Mandy chuckled, "I think he looks cute in the coveralls."

"Honey, there's desperate and then there's desssssssperate. You need to reel it in a notch…or ten."

"It's my family, they're driving me crazy. All my sisters are pregnant again and if I hear 'Are you seeing anyone, MandyLynn?' one more time, I may kill."

"Another one nailed!" Jacqui cheered when her computer signaled it had a print match. "Don't forget to wear gloves when you're killing your family."

Just as Mandy was about to wave through the glass to get Greg's attention, she saw Sara Sidle corner her man. "Hey!" She grumped, "Where did she come from? Was she stalking him?"

Jacqui sniffed the air. "I smell jealousy."

"I'm not jealous of **her**." Turning green with envy, she watched the two CSIs get closer and closer. "He asked **me** out, not her. If he wanted her, he'd be going out with her."

The blurt-prone forty year old said, "Unless she doesn't want him."

"You think I'm his second choice?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound snarky, I'm just worried about you because in all these years, I've never seen you this crazy over a date." Trying to make her pal feel better, Jacqui said, "Or maybe I'm the jealous one. Maybe I'm moody becase you're about to hook up with your dream man and the only thing on my horizon is…actually I can't think of anything."

"Aww." Mandy assured her buddy, "Don't worry, I won't become one of those women who forgets her friends once she gets a boyfriend. We'll still go to the movies and pretend we're dieting together."

The two women watched in silence as Sara threw her arms around Greg.

"She's mauling my man!" Mandy exclaimed, growing more irritated by the second. "Let go of my Greggo."

Although she wouldn't say it, Jacqui thought Greg, with his eyes closed and arms clamped around Sara, looked completely smitten with his fellow CSI. "He's just humoring her."

"I really hope the joke is over soon," Mandy sighed.

* * *

Pulling back from the embrace, Sara apologized once more, "I'm so sorry about Melvin. I suck at the new mommy thing. If a dog is giving me this much trouble, I can't imagine what it would be like taking care of a kid – luckily I'll never find out." 

"It's okay," Greg assured her for a third time. "The cowboy and I decided we're definitely getting a dog this week, assuming we find one to adopt that we like."

"The Assistant Manager at the Petsmart on Tropicana was really helpful. He told us just what to buy for our breed."

"You never told me what you got."

"A boxer."

Greg jabbed a few punches in the air. "A good friend of mine growing up had a Boxer, it was a great dog, except it farted all the time. That pooch could clear a room."

"Yeah, Bruno has enough natural gas to power a small nation." When Sara noticed Mandy staring at her through the glass, she bristled. "Uh oh, your girlfriend is watching us and she looks ticked."

"Doh!" By the time Greg whirled around, the Tech had busied herself. "I better set the date and underimpress her as soon as possible."

"Just be yourself," Sara winked before strolling away.

* * *

Watching Sara interact with Greg, Jacqui rolled her eyes._ Seriously, she needs to shit or get off the pot. She can't string Grissom and Sanders along for years. She's probably dating another hunky EMT on the side. Jeeeeez, save some of the straight ones for the rest of us, honey! They're in limited supply, especially in this town. _

"Hey, Mandy!" Greg enthusiastically greeted his date-to-be. "I'm back, I'm safe, and I'm no longer pre-occupied with getting killed, so I can think straight."

"Great!"

"So, I was thinking about this date," Greg announced while rubbing his hands together. "Are you into coin collecting?"

Jacqui raced to cover her mouth with her palm so she wouldn't laugh.

_Coin collecting?!_ Mandy shook her head. "Uh, no, I don't know anything about coin collecting actually."

Greg's excitement grew. "Well, there's a coin collection convention in town and I'm like super into coin collecting. I'd **love** to introduce you to my favorite hobby tomorrow night. Are you up for it?" He made sure he spit from talking so excitedly and intermittently jumped up and down.

"Sure!" Mandy took a step back just in case her date continued to spray. "I'd love to accompany an expert, because I've always thought coin collecting would be a fun pastime." _If I was in prison and it was the only option available._

"Awesome!" He nodded. "We'll hit the coin exhibition at eight and then I'll take you out for dinner before we come in for our shift. Is **P**eter **P**iper **P**izza good with you? I'm kind of on a budget and I love to play Skee Ball, so it's my one of favorite places."

"I love Peter Piper Pizza," Mandy lied. Since she was always forced to go there for her nieces and nephews birthday parties, she hated the place. "So I should probably wear jeans then, right? Since it's a casual atmosphere."

"Jeans would be great. The tighter the better! Just kidding…but wear them anyway, "he snorted with laughter. "Leave directions to your place taped to my locker, okay? I'll pick you up at seven-thirty." He pointed over his shoulder. "Griss is sending me right back out, so I have to run. Bye!"

"Bye!" Mandy waved until he was gone and then she whirled around to face her hysterical co-worker. "Just get it out of your system."

"Coin Collecting and Peter Piper Pizza?" Jacqui held onto the counter so she wouldn't fall over from laughing. "Congratulations, you're dating a ten year old." _No wonder Sidle doesn't want him._

"Hey! Geeks need love too!" Mandy huffed before returning to her computer. "I bet I have a great time."

"Bring lots of quarters, just in case he didn't earn his allowance this week or spent it all on Transformer toys." Jacqui bit her tongue so the other jokes wouldn't slip out. "I can't wait to hear all about this one."

* * *

**ANs:**

A lot going on in this 'episode', I hope it wasn't too overwhelming.

The gang has weekends off and can start getting lives (in real life, in a city that big, there's no way there would be 1 Graveyard shift and 1 supervisor). Poor Warrick, maybe if it happened sooner, he'd still be married. LOL Cath is probably happy it didn't.

In case anyone is wondering - I debated on how/when/where Nick would come out to a family member and the decision for him to do it so quickly with Eileen (who he is least close with) really was to show that he is just so ready to be done with living a lie with his family and that he trusts Greg (and Greg's parents) enough to know that if it blows up, he'll be okay because of their support. Also, I think he was really shocked by how content he felt in Catalina and then at the Sanders home that he was unwilling to compromise in his own home.

Thanks to KJT for editing while still on dial-up. Broadband has been ordered woo hoo! And credit to my husband for writing several of Jacqui's lines (he thinks she's the female version of quippy Brass) and for coming up with Greg's date idea LOL

I've replied to everyone who commented on the last chapter. I was psyched to see you enjoyed the 'ethical Walmart' scene. Thanks so much for the ongoing support of the story, it's very helpful!!

The next chapter will post around Friday (that's why this one was extra long). I have a very busy week since it's the last week before school starts back up (we go year-round and only have 6 weeks off in the summer)

**Thanks for reading! **

**Maggs **


	4. Chapter 4: Secret Lives

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 4: Secret Lives **

"Grissom!" Greg yelled when he saw his boss dart out of his office. "Can you hold up for a sec?" He hustled down the hall to catch him.

"I told Doc I'd meet him in Autopsy at seven, so make it fast."

"I need your John Hancock." The exhausted CSI handed over the Training Request Form and a pen. "Since this month's session couldn't accommodate everyone who signed up, they added an extra session. I start next week."

Gil quickly signed the form and returned it.

"Cool, thanks." Greg lowered his voice to a whisper, "And I promise not to call Nick into the field to babysit me again."

"Wise decision." Gil's expression softened along with his voice. "I take it things are going well for the two of you?"

"Yeah, totally."

"Good." Gil turned to leave. "That should help Nick's state of mind and make it easier for him to pass his Psych evaluation. The sooner he's back, the better."

* * *

"CSI Stokes," the office assistant announced from the open doorway, "Dr. Henry is ready for you." 

"Hey, Margie!" Nick set down the National Geographic magazine he had been reading and crossed the room smiling at the cheery fifty-something woman who reminded him of his plump and jolly Aunt Katie. "The only good things about comin' here to get my head shrunk are your smile and the magazines. I always loved readin' National Geographic as a kid. I really should get a subscription one of these days."

"Hey, you're in luck," the woman informed her favorite patient of all time, "I just changed out all the magazines and have a dozen old ones in the donation box. I'll donate them to you instead and you can enjoy them while you're on leave from work."

"Seriously? Cool, thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll bag them up and have them waiting for you at check out." She knocked on the doctor's door and then opened it. "CSI Stokes is here for his seven-thirty appointment." She whispered, "Have a good session, Tex."

"I'll try."

"Good to see you again, Nick." The doctor rounded his desk with his hand extended.

"Hey, Doc." The CSI returned the handshake and smiled at the thirty-eight year old doctor, who he always thought resembled a blonde surfer dude more than a medical professional. "Good seein' you again too, though I wish it were under different circumstances."

"I have to say you look much happier than I imagined you would after reading Ecklie's write up, and a hell of a lot better than the first time you showed up on my doorstep still shaking from head to toe." The doctor flashed his warmest smile. "You didn't even look this relaxed when I released you from therapy last time."

"I know it sounds bad on paper, but it was really just a horrific case on a bad day." Nick sat down in one of the leather guest chairs. "I um…I also had somethin' personal goin' on at the time that had me off balance. It was somethin' that had me upset for years and it was comin' to a head. I've cleared that issue up once and for all though. Honestly, I'm feelin' the best I have felt in a long, long time."

"Cool! Then my job will be easy." The doctor joked, "This is my first day back after three weeks of vacation, so I was hoping I wouldn't have to work too hard."

"I just got back from a vacation too. Did ya go any place good?"

"Kenya," the man replied, still glowing from the experience.

"Like a safari trip?" Nick queried, "I've always wanted to do one of those."

"It was incredible," the doctor answered, deciding it would be a good ice-breaker to get their session rolling and re-establish their doctor-patient relationship. "We visited three different preserves. One night, we slept yards away from giraffes. I'm still buzzing."

"That had to cost a pretty penny. I didn't think the County paid their doctors that well."

"They don't. I'm broke, believe me. We ate Ramen for a year so we could do it all first-class, but it was totally worth it. It was the trip of a lifetime." The doctor reached for the small photo album on his desk. "All my patients told me they wanted to see pictures when I got back, so I put this together."

"Whoa," Nick exclaimed when he saw a cheetah perched on the hood of the tour jeep."

"I almost pissed my pants when that cat jumped up there, but the guide said it was typical."

"These are amazing photos." When Nick turned the page, he pointed and asked, "Who's with ya in this one?"

"That's my partner Bob."

"Partner?" Nick glanced up from the album. "As in medical practice partner or um…"

"No." The doctor smiled, "As in life partner."

"Oh." Returning his gaze to the photo, Nick stammered, "I didn't know you were…gay."

"We've been together for five years, it was an anniversary trip. I've only been out at work now for about a year now, which was after you stopped coming here." Studying the puzzled expression on his patient's face, the doctor asked, "I'm sorry, does my being gay make you uncomfortable?" So far, only three patients had requested to see someone else after finding out. "If it does, you could request…"

"No, no not at all." Nick breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I'm thrilled frankly. It'll make this much easier for me. You know that issue I said I was dealin' with for a long time…"

"Really?" The doctor sat back. "At risk of sounding professionally inept - I had no idea."

"Don't feel bad, I was hidin' it really well, especially from myself." Comfortable, because it was a confidential session, Nick reached for his wallet and pulled out the photo booth pictures that he had taken with Greg in Catalina. "I've got a partner too, and I think you'll recognize him since he's also a former patient of yours."

* * *

"Greg!" Mandy shouted across the parking lot. Right as she was about to slip behind the wheel and drive home, she spotted him walking out the LVPD building. 

"Hey!" He contemplated if it would be rude to just leave it at that, but decided to walk over. "Don't worry, I've showered." He felt he should warn her since she knew he had spent the better part of the night in a dumpster.

"Are you kidding? After all these years of CSIs coming into my lab reeking of garbage and decomp, it doesn't bother me anymore." Smiling at the man with the tousled hair who looked adorable in a crazy t-shirt, ripped jeans and red sneakers, she said, "We made a great team tonight, huh? You finding that murder weapon in the dumpster and me matching up the print."

"I got a text saying Vartann has the killer in custody. If only every case was that easy, huh?"

"Yeah."

Unnerved by her dreamy stare, Greg pointed to his watch. "I hate to run, but it's already nine-thirty and I turn into a pumpkin at ten."

"You're so funny," she remarked, loving the goofy smile on her date's face. "Did you get the directions I left you?"

"Yeah." He tapped his pocket. "You're like three minutes from our place."

_Our place? Oh, right!_ "How's Nick doing?" She felt bad for not asking sooner. "He was so agitated at the grocery store the other night, I felt really sorry for him. It's really nice of you to help him; you're such a sweet, standup guy."

_You'd think differently if you knew I was going home to crawl into bed with Nick before our date._ "Thanks." _She's so nice. I hate this. _

"It makes sense that you're good at taking care of people," she gushed, "because you're great with kids and if someone can handle kids, they can handle taking care of anyone. A few weeks ago, when I saw you questioning that six year old who witnessed his mother's death, I was blown away. You had that poor little boy smiling and laughing even though it was the worst day of his life." _That's when I knew you'd be a great husband and father._ Realizing she had gone over the top, she scrambled to compensate. "Not that it's important that you like kids for any reason." _Good save. _

_She's stalking my sperm. If this date was real, I'd be canceling it ASAP, because she's freaking me out. _"So, I'll see you at seven-thirty."

"Seven-thirty." In an uncharacteristic and bold move, she lunged forward to kiss the unsuspecting CSI. "Pleasant dreams." She knew she'd be having a few. "Bye."

"Bye." As she drove away he muttered through his fake smile, "This date is quite possibly the dumbest idea I've ever had." Then he recalled trying to fly off his parents' roof with wings made out of his mother's lingerie. "Okay, second dumbest." Cursing himself, Greg trudged across the lot toward his parking spot, passing Catherine and Warrick on the way. "Oh, hey."

"What's up with you and Mandy?" Catherine nosed since she lost the coin toss with Warrick. "We just saw her kiss you."

"Oh. That." Since the date had already been broadcast through the grapevine thanks to Hodges, he didn't bother lying. "We're going out tonight and she was just thanking me in advance. I'd really rather not talk about it, okay?"

"Okay." Catherine let him off the hook. "Go home and get some sleep, because you look really drained."

"Yeah, I'm beat." Greg resumed walking. "See you tonight." _After my beard date from hell._

Once their co-worker drove away, Catherine and Warrick turned to each other feeling more confused than ever.

"He's dating Mandy, but sucking food off Nick's fingers with his eyes closed," she stated while planting her hands on her hips. "He looked a lot more enthusiastic with Nick than Sweet as Candy Mandy."

"I always thought that boy was confused," Warrick sighed, "but I didn't think Nick was. I can't shake that image of him feeding Sanders. If I didn't know him, I'd swear he was with Greg, but now with this Mandy piece of the puzzle…who knows what's going on. "

"You went out with Mandy."

"Like six years ago," he laughed.

"What was with that anyway?" She had always wondered.

"It was part of my Gamblers Anonymous steps y'know? I needed a new crowd. I thought a sweet librarian-type would be good for me."

"Let me guess…" Catherine posed seductively against her car. "When she didn't let down her bun and toss her glasses for a black leather teddy, you were disappointed?"

"Somethin' like that," he answered with just the right amount of bad-boy bravado to get her body going. "The truth is, I don't think sleeping with co-workers is a good idea."

"Really?" She purred, "So, sleeping with me would be bad?"

"Mmhmm."

"How bad?" she asked with just the right amount of bad-girl breathiness to get his body going.

"Very. Bad." The eye sex drove him wild. "If you don't believe me, I'd be more than happy to prove my point this morning." Even though he hadn't planned on taking their budding relationship to the next level so soon, a hostile phone conversation with Tina an hour ago had left him feeling like he had something to prove.

"Hmm. I don't know." After a dramatic pause, she dangled her keys. "Your place or mine, baby?"

* * *

Dropping onto the bed she now shared daily with Gil, Sara rejoiced to her significant other, "I'm so glad we don't have to pick whose place we're sleeping at anymore. It was such a pain in the ass to pack a bag and stay over." 

"I couldn't agree more," he replied as he left the bathroom. "Hey! What's he doing on the bed?" Their boxer was stretched out at the foot looking like he had been sleeping there all his life.

"He's been in his dog crate all day. We can't expect him to sleep there when we're home too."

"We can't watch him while we're sleeping, Sara. What if he goes exploring while we're dozing?

"He's already snoring," she laughed, "I don't think mischief is on his mind. Just shut the bathroom and bedroom doors and it'll be fine; I dog-proofed this room, remember?"

After doing as told, Gil slipped under the covers and said, "I want you to know that I won't have sex with a dog in the bed."

"All part of my master plan," Sara chuckled as she clicked off her lamp. "I'm way too tired. It was hard working eleven hours after being out of the groove for almost a week. But if you're a good boy while we're sleeping, I might kick Bruno out of bed when we wake up and let the old dog of the house have a treat."

After panting in his laughing lover's ear, he snickered, "Doggie style would be great, thanks." He settled in back of her, spooning her tight. "I forgot to say, nice work on the Orion case."

"I knew that skinny blonde bitch girl was lying through her teeth."

"What should I say in my supervisory notes? CSI Sidle's natural hatred of skinny blondes led to a break in the case?"

"I don't hate** all** skinny blondes," she corrected while closing her eyes, "just the vapid annoying ones with shrilly voices. So, what does that work out to? 98 percent?"

Gil responded to the cattiness by making cat noises, which in turn made Bruno jump to his feet, bark like a mad dog and run vigorous circles in the bed. "Bruno, no! Stop!"

Sara grabbed hold of his collar and soothed, "It's okay, boy, it's okay."

The expert in Forensic Psychology said, "Clearly, he doesn't like cats."

"I'll say. That was a really intense reaction to a cat impression and it wasn't even a good impression. No offense." When Sara felt the dog's heart racing she said, "Maybe he suffers from PTSD and panics when it's triggered." She scratched his head. "You poor boy. You need a hefty dose of TLC, doncha?"

* * *

"The wuss is home and he needs a hug!" Greg announced as he walked in the front door. When he didn't get a reply, he kicked off his shoes in the entry way and padded down the hall. "Cletus?" _He should be back from therapy by now. I hope his sister didn't have him hauled away to a deprogramming camp in Idaho. _"Cletus?!" When he reached Nick's open bedroom door, he saw his significant other curled up in bed with a dozen National Geographic magazines and his IPod on. "I don't want to startle you," he said while slowly walking around the bed waving his right hand. "Cleeeetus. Please don't freak out." 

"Shit!" Nick's magazine soared through the air and he scrambled to sit up. "You scared me to death!" He yanked out his ear buds.

"I tried my best not to, but you couldn't hear me over your hillbilly jug band music. Is your sister gone?"

"Until seven. She's havin' dinner with her church friends tonight. They're apparently gonna ignore the part of the Bible that talks about gluttony and eat at an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"So she didn't pack her bags and run screaming from the House of Queer?"

"Nope." Nick excitedly relayed, "She even made us a breakfast casserole and left me a note that says she can hate the sin, but not the sinner. She's gonna pray on the matter and not tell the family until God advises her."

"That should take a little while, because after catching ten minutes of CNN World News in the Break Room, I'm pretty sure God has more important things to do today than fret over who Nick likes to kiss." The cynic was certain that Eileen stayed because she didn't want to fork over cash for a hotel room. "I predict she gets a revelation on Friday morning."

"Would ya shut up and get in bed already?" Nick winked. "I missed ya, Dex."

The geek smiled when he heard his new nickname. "I've been standing here waiting for you to clear a spot for me, jocko."

"Oh." The National Geographic fan carefully piled his magazines on the nightstand and lifted the comforter just in time for Greg to dive under the covers. "I hate to say this, but I'm really beat and not up for…"

"That's not what I want. That's not what I want at all." Snuggling close, Nick purred, "This is what I've been waitin' to do." The warmth of his partner's body pressed against his was just what he needed after an emotional draining therapy session.

Under the deluxe comforter, perched on top of 400 thread count sheets, and in the strong arms of a man who loved him, Greg's tension melted faster than ice cream on a hot summer day. "This is so much better than coming home to an empty house after a crappy shift." He caught Nick's bottom lip between his and lingered a kiss. "So, tell me about your session. Was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

"Not at all. Dr. Henry is gay, can you believe it?"

"You didn't know that?"

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew," Greg laughed. "It's not a secret. He has a picture of Bob on his desk."

"He told me he didn't come out at work until after I was done there." Nick excitedly shared, "He was really helpful when I told him about my disapproving sister. He told me what to say if she brings up certain things like Conversion Therapy and he gave me this paper with a list of websites to check out. There's this whole ex-gay movement, even a counter group to PFLAG called PFOX which is parents and friends of ex-gays. He suggested I read as much as I can, so I can speak to her points."

"But instead you're catching up on a year of _National Geographic_?"

"I was lookin' at pictures of Africa in the magazines. I've **always** wanted to do a safari trip. It's on my list of things to do before I die that I had to write out the last time I was in therapy. Doc Henry and his partner just returned from Kenya."

"Let's do it." Greg bolted up in bed. "I've got the hundred grand, remember? My dad specifically said to be practical with most of it, but use some of it for a hard-earned splurge. Let's splurge a chunk of it going to Kenya."

"I can't let you pay my way to Africa, G."

"Why? I'll get this trip and you can pay for the next big one. You said your sister Gwen is due to pay you back your savings next year, right? I've always wanted to go to the Great Barrier Reef. I was just thinking about that tonight when I was sure I was going to die in that dumpster."

"I don't know." It was a lot for a pragmatic and proud man to swallow.

"Be spontaneous, Cletus." Greg egged him on. "Just say yes. Just look the guy you love in the eyes and say 'Yes! I'd love to go to Kenya with you, baby!' Say it like you mean it."

"But who's gonna watch our dog?" Nick queried with concern in his voice. "I don't like the idea of puttin' him in a kennel."

"The dog we don't have yet?"

"Yeah."

"Ha! You're hilarious." Greg pounced on his man, kissing him frantically. "Have I told you I love you today? Hmm? Hmm? Have I? I love you! And I** loved** how you showed up at that dumpster without me asking you to come. You were there within fifteen minutes of hearing me cry on the phone. And you brought me coffee! I love coffee and you…and the dog we don't have yet…and I love the vacation we didn't take yet."

Feeling like he was being tackled and smooched by a loving puppy, Nick laughed, "Are you sure it was me you were happy to see, or was it the sight of a Glock in my holster that made your heart go pitter-pat tonight?"

"Both, but your Glock can't kiss me back, so…"

"Wow, your shoulders feel really tight, G. Toss your shirt while I'll grab some lotion to give you a massage."

"Seriously?! Eat your heart out, ladies, my man gives massages." Suddenly in a fantastic mood, Greg dove onto his stomach laughing, "When we wake up, we'll definitely need to fool around though, because I don't want to go out on my date with Mandy sporting unresolved wood. She'll take it as a sign that I want to impregnate her on our first date."

"That's tonight?" Nick said in surprise. "What's the rush? What do you mean **first **date? How many are ya gonna have?"

"Dude, I had to make it tonight. The tick of her biological clock is deafening. She's stalking my soldiers. The sooner I make her realize I'm a loser, the better."

"Yeah, but tonight?"

"Seriously, she's all over me, I'm not waiting."

"Uh." As he straddled Greg's thighs, Nick asked with concern, "You're not gonna kiss, right?"

"She already kissed me. She nailed me in the LVPD parking lot of all places. Talk about a PDA."

"Seriously?"

"Catherine and 'Rick saw her do it and totally called me on it. But I guess having witnesses only helps our cause."

"Back up, did she kiss your lips or your cheek?"

"Corner of my mouth, but only because I turned my head. I'm pretty sure she was going for tongue."

_Tongue?_ "Uh, what if the date goes really well and you hit it off?" Nick kneaded the tension in his lover's muscles as his started to knot. "You're Bi. Unlike me, you've really been in love with a woman. Hell, you spent years chasin' Sara. Mandy's a lot like Sara too – brown hair, bookish, not a girly girl. Now that I think about it, she's exactly like Sara, but without the rough edges." His voice filled with concern. "What if you two have a really good time? What if you get caught up in the moment and get carried away? Would you…"

"Are you joking around?"

"No, I'm serious, what if she…"

"Stop!"

"G, I think I…"

"Stop! Stop talking!" Miffed by the line of questioning, Greg pushed Nick off him and moved to the opposite side of the bed. "I can't believe you! I just told you I loved you and wanted to take you on a dream trip to Africa and like two minutes later you're worried I'm going to fall into bed with Mandy tonight. Are you fucking kidding me? Where did that line of questioning come from, CSI Stokes?!" Pointing to the bracelet, he barked, "I thought this meant something. How can it mean anything if you're worried about me falling into bed with the first girl who flirts with me?" Stunned by the insecurity ripping through him, the exhausted and vulnerable man averted his eyes. "We're buying a house and a dog together, but you're worried I'm going to screw Mandy behind your back for kicks? What does that say about our relationship?" Holding his head, he continued rambling, "I'm only going on the damn date because you freaked out when she assumed we were a couple. I don't** want** to go out with her, I **have** to go out with her. I can't believe you."

Stunned by the intense reaction and the sight of Greg's hands shaking, Nick stammered, "I…you know, I guess deep down I'm just a little insecure with our relationship happening so fast and I panicked. Everything popped into my head and out of my mouth before I could think about how ridiculous I was for even thinkin' it. Like I said earlier, I have a lot on the line here, G, and I've never been in a serious relationship before this."

"You're **not** the only onewho feels vulnerable here. Why do you keep forgetting that?" Greg struggled to regain his composure. "You think because I've been with guys before that this isn't as risky for me as it is for you, but I disagree. I've already had my heart ripped out by Lacey and Jeff after saying 'I love you' so saying it to you is a **huge** deal for me. If it wasn't a big deal to me, I would have said it to someone other than my parents in the last ten years." He turned away to flick his tears. "You already stuck a knife in my heart when you dumped me on The Freyja because of your sister's phone call. I was so fucking happy to be with you just now, to have someone at home after a crappy shift. I've never had that before and it felt so good. Couldn't you see how happy I was? How can one guy make me feel so safe and so scared all in the same day? You're like the friggin' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of boyfriends."

Feeling like he had kicked a puppy that loved him unconditionally, Nick's guilt intensified.

"I don't know why you see things as happening fast. All I see is eight years of friendship and trust paving the way to our first kiss." Greg continued to pour out his heart, "The physical intimacy is just the cherry on top, it's sweet and colorful and fun, but it's not much without the foundation below it. I don't get why the addition of sex to our relationship and me telling you 'I love you' suddenly makes me **less** trustworthy instead of more. I'm still the guy who has had your back for the last 8 years." His watering eyes fixed on the plaid of the comforter, he said, "I'm the guy who would never betray you in bed or at work, as a lover or a friend. I thought you knew that. I thought…" After a choppy breath, he pleaded, "Stop pulling the rug out from under me. Please. Because every time you do, there's a little voice that says 'don't be a fool, Greg, leave now before you get hurt again' and I'm afraid if you keep doing it, that voice is going to become too loud to ignore."

"I'm sorry, G." Nick placed a hand over his heart. "I'm so sorry. You're absolutely right. I feel like shit for thinkin' it, for sayin' it, and for hurtin' you." After clearing his throat, he confessed, "Just for a split second I got insecure about everything, just a second, but that's all it took to hurt you and I'm sorry. That was my fear talkin', but now I'm gonna talk with my heart and my gut and my head. I know you're not gonna go out tonight and sleep with Mandy behind my back. I know you've been nothin' but honest with me. I know you love me and that you'll be here for me even if my entire family walks away." He reached for his hurt partner's hand and was relieved that he didn't pull away. "I know you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He slid closer and spoke with conviction. "Yes! I'd **love **to go to Kenya with you, baby, because we have plenty of time to find someone reliable to watch our dog that we don't have yet." When Greg glanced over smiling through his tears, Nick's heart soared. "Forgiven?" He handed over a couple of tissues and anxiously awaited an answer.

"How can I stay angry at a guy who loves the dog he doesn't have yet." Blowing his nose, Greg joked, "I guess there's no mistaking who the girl is in this relationship. This is the second time I've cried today. I'm living proof that you can suffer from PMS without having a female reproductive system."

Nick scooted over and wiped the tears he had caused. "If it makes ya feel any better, I cried twice during my therapy session."

"That doesn't count. Dr. Henry is like Barbara Walters, he always gets people to cry." Hugging his remorseful partner, Greg whispered, "I'm sorry for yelling. I'm really tired and I'm stressed about the date tonight, because I don't want to hurt Mandy, but I don't know if I can trust her with the truth. I never thought I'd be one of those gay guys who uses unsuspecting women to help keep his secret. It feels just as sleazy as I always imagined it would…and as necessary."

After a sensual kiss, Nick patted the bed. "Come on, let me finish that massage because you need it now more than ever, thanks to my big mouth." Once the lotion was warmed between his hands, the guilt-ridden boyfriend began working on the knots with extra care.

"Mmm, that feels really nice." His heart rate finally calming, Greg closed his eyes.

Since Greg had been his rock for the last week, Nick had quickly forgotten how troubled the poor guy still was on the inside, but in the last 24 hours every insecurity had bubbled back to the surface. "I'm really sorry that I worried you. I promise to think before I speak next time. I'm happy, incredibly happy. you should have heard me in my session today, I couldn't stop talkin' about how happy I am with you." He pressed a kiss to his cheek. "The way you love me, I'd be a fool to leave."

* * *

"I gotta go," Vartann announced as he slipped out of his lover's bed. The guilt and the shame was already setting in. 

"Same time Thursday?" Ecklie asked as he sat up against the headboard.

"I don't this so." The detective hurried to get dressed. "Screwing you isn't doing much for my failing marriage y'know?" What started as an unexpected one time shot while they were working the Billmeyer case had turned into a semi-regular occurrence.

"Divorce your wife," the single man suggested. "Sure I lost a chunk of money, but it was worth it, believe me. No more nagging and bitching every night when I get home from work and I don't have to lie about where I'm going when the urge strikes."

"Your kids are older, mine are still in elementary school. I don't want to fuck up their lives like my old man fucked up mine." Stepping into his dress shoes, the miserably married man grumbled, "Thursday, but then I'm done. I've got to cut this shit out. One more time and that's it." Over the years he had successfully suppressed the primal urge, so he knew he could do it again. He had gone without for the first four years of his marriage, but the compulsion seemed to be growing stronger as he got older.

"Okay." Ecklie waved goodbye to the repressed jock who topped better than even the guys he had paid good money in the past. "It's always just one more time, Detective." He tossed off the sheets. "Back to work."

* * *

"I should have just stayed at the Lab and caught up on paperwork." Lying in bed with her cats, Mandy remarked, "I'm too anxious to sleep, girls." Although going to a coin collection convention and Peter Piper Pizza sounded horrible, she was looking forward to spending time with a guy as sweet and as smart as Greg. "I wonder if he's having trouble sleeping too. He's probably watching Spongebob Squarepants and polishing his coin collection," she told her feline companions. "Whatever. I don't care if he's the biggest dork on the planet, I'm just ready to be with a nice guy who won't break my heart." 

Grabbing the bag of Doritos she had sitting on her nightstand, she flicked on the TV and started surfing. "Ooh! The Mermaid Chair. I've seen this before. The monk in this movie is sinfully hot. He kind of reminds me of Detective Vartann. I wish he was single." She sighed, "All the good ones are married or gay."

* * *

After a several minutes of deep tissue massage, Greg turned over feeling like a new man. "Would you do this side too, babe?" 

"You bet." Nick grabbed the lotion and warmed up a fresh batch.

He enjoyed watching his masseuse's muscles flexing. "Mandy wouldn't look half as good perched on my hips." He wanted to make sure there was no doubt in his jealous boyfriend's mind.

"I can't believe I got jealous like that," Nick remarked while throwing his whole body into the massage. "I feel so…"

"Shut up and kiss me, cowboy," Greg commanded while slipping a hand around his partner's neck and yanking him down.

"I thought you were tired."

"The key word is 'were'."

Suddenly locked in an embrace, they tumbled onto the sheets and allowed the passion of the vulnerabilities they had just shared to fuel their desire. "See, no one gets me as hot as you. Why would I want Mandy?" Greg breathed into his lover's ear as he took a turn in the top spot, "or anyone else." Feeling uncharacteristically possessive, he devoured his mate with a domineering kiss. "I only want you."

Nick rolled to the edge of the bed, opened the nightstand and threw a Magnum condom and a jumbo bottle of Astroglide onto the bed. "Go ahead. Have me."

The room was suddenly quiet enough to hear Nick's briefs hitting the carpet.

In silence, Greg contemplated the offer of submission that was clearly an extension of the earlier apology. "You really want me to…"

Turning on stereo on his nightstand, Nick shared, "I was plannin' on givin' it to you for your birthday, but I can get you a Best Buy gift card instead."

As Prince's Do Me, Baby filled the room, Greg snuggled up to his lover's body, until they were spooning. "Are you sure?"

"I'm a scientist and I'm curious as hell after watching you lose your mind every time I hit the spot." Glancing over his shoulder, Nick winked, "Hopefully you've been takin' copious notes in your head, Dex."

"You know me." Greg shed his boxer briefs. "I absorb everything like a sponge." He peppered kisses over Nick's shoulders while tenderly making his first move and within seconds he had his lover squirming. "Oops, looks like I'm not the only one with a control problem around here. You finished during the pre-show, Cletus." He riotously laughed as Nick went down in a blaze of glory. "Can I hear an amen?!" he shouted after hearing his grateful lover call out God's name a dozen times.

"Amen," Nick panted. "I could die a happy man right now."

"Even without the safari?"

"Maybe we could just go to the MGM and see the lions."

While laughing with the sated man in his arms, Greg rolled off the bed to find the condom that had fallen to the floor. "Bottoms up, sweetheart. There's a new top in town."

"Ha!" Nick did exactly as he was told, exaggerating the pose and laughing. "How's this, stud?"

"That'll work." While standing at the edge of the bed spitting the top of the condom wrapper in the air, Greg saw Eileen appear in the open doorway. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating, but then she shrieked loud enough to shatter glass and he knew she was really there. "Oh shit!"

Nick glanced up just as his sister clutched her head and ran away screaming 'Sodomites'.

"You gave her a key?!"

"In case we were sleeping when she got home **at seven,** yes! It's only ten-thirty, what the hell is she doing here?!" As his sister frantically prayed like she was performing an Exorcism, he panicked, "I can't believe she saw me gettin' ready to…I think I'd rather be back in that coffin than face her."

"Is she speaking in tongues?!" Greg had seen a documentary on the subject, but had never met someone who really did.

"Yeah, she does that sometimes."

"You say that like it's so normal!" Greg gripped his mussed hair. "What are we going to do?"

"Uh, you should probably wash your hands, doncha think?"

Seconds later Greg was standing at the sink and listening to Eileen scream about God's wrath and Satan's stronghold on Nick's soul. "The neighbors are going to call the cops if they hear her screaming like that." When he heard police sirens approaching, he knew it was already too late. "Oh shit!"

"Don't answer the door!" Greg shouted as he ran into the living room naked. "It's the cops!"

"Stay back!" Eileen snarled as she used two wooden spoons to make a cross. "Sodomite, Sodomite, let me be! Keep your gay parts farrrrrrr from me!"

Greg gaped at the woman who was wearing a 'Proud Sister of a Former Fudge-Packer' t-shirt and changing the words to 'Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee'.

"Sorry, G."

When Greg whirled around, he saw Nick was surrounded by lions as he prayed on his knees. "My sister made me see the light. God wants me to love boobs. I'm gonna take Mandy out tonight instead of you."

"But Mandy's boobs aren't real! Catherine said it was a miracle bra." He shrieked like a girl when someone pounded on the door.

"This is Detective Vartann of LVPD! We got an anonymous call about a 666 at this address – naked Sodomites using lubricant for vile recreational purposes while taking the Lord's name in vain. Open up, boys, you're going to hell for eternity."

"I'll get it!" Eileen, suddenly dressed like June Cleaver, answered the door. "Hello Officer, my brother has repented, so there's only one sinner left for you to haul to the eternal hellfire." She held up a silver tray. "Would you care for a canapé?"

"Sanders?" Vartann laughed at the naked CSI. "No surprise here. The way you break down in tears, I always knew you were a fag. You'd have to be to get your ass kicked while sitting in a friggin' truck with the engine running, you pathetic pillow-biter. How long have you been the Colon Cowboy's bitch anyway? I just played cards with him at the Tangiers a few weeks ago. I hope to hell he's a good handwasher." He shivered. "You Sausage Jockeys make me sick. Moving on to the next order of business." He waved in the James family. "Do you and your posse want a piece of him before he's condemned?"

"Hell, yes!" Mrs. James walked in with brass knuckles on each hand. "Me first."

"No!" Greg tried to run but he couldn't move. "Cletus!" Suddenly Grissom was in front of him. "Help me, Griss!" Tears poured from his eyes.

"You can't call for help every time you're scared, Greg." The CSI supervisor shook his head as two dozen burly gang members filed into the room. "You should have gone to Fire Arms Class."

Vartann informed the angry mob, "I have a 419 in Henderson, so when you're done beating the bejesus out of him, just toss his bloody carcass in the dumpster out back."

"Nick!" Greg screamed as he watched his partner racing away on a giraffe. "Come back!"

"Sorry." Nick waved as his giraffe sprouted wings. "Mandy and I are going to Kenya. Bye!"

"No! I'm supposed to go with you!" As the mob started throwing bone-breaking punches he tried to break free, but in seconds he was down on the ground getting kicked to a pulp and watching his dreams of seeing The Great Barrier Reef fade to black.

"Greg!" Afraid he'd hurt himself, Nick straddled his partner's hips and pinned him to the mattress. "Wake up! G! Wake up!" Watching the terrified guy gasping for air, he soothed, "It was just a nightmare, buddy. Look at me, you're okay. You're okay! You fell asleep when I was givin' you a back rub and started tossin' and turnin' while I was readin' in bed next to you." He patted his cheek. "You're okay."

"It felt so real. I could feel the punches and kicks." Greg frantically used his hands to check for breaks. "I could smell and taste my blood again." In a distant voice, he said, "You just left me there to die…everyone left me."

"It wasn't real, you're not bleedin' and I'm right here." Nick slipped behind him, spooning him tight.

"It was so real."

Nick saw tears sliding down Greg's face for a third time that day and felt guilty all over again. "You fell asleep while you were still stressed, that's why this happened." Clutching the trembling body in front of him, he remembered waking many nights the same way. "I know just how you feel, buddy. I kept havin' one I couldn't shake. I'd be fully awake in the Plexiglass coffin watching the dirt being thrown onto the top and then I'd hear the ants marching in through the cracks in lock step. I'd put the gun to my throat and start countin' down from ten and when I got to two, I'd wake up in a cold sweat." He snuggled closer still. "Take some deep breaths." After five minutes he felt the shaking subside. "Better?"

"Yeah, but I can still smell the blood."

"Sense of smell has the strongest link to long-term memory." Nick whispered, "Let's talk about our trip, that'll get your mind in a different place."

"In the nightmare you were going to Kenya with Mandy on the back of a giraffe. Your sister called the cops on me. The James family was salivating over the idea of beating me to a pulp and Vartann was getting in a hefty dose of gay bashing. That last one's not a stretch though; I've seen him do it for real when we worked that case at the Blue Moon Hotel. He acts like a 12 year old, making fun of obese women and picking on hookers, I don't know. I know he's your friend, but I think he's an ass, and if he finds out about you it's not gonna be pretty. He reminds me of Jeff, and I could totally see him accusing you of misrepresenting yourself to get close to him and beating the shit out of you."

"I really doubt that, but I'll be careful just the same."

"I just remembered that you were also praying in a garden of lions in my nightmare. Ooh! And when we were going to have sex, you handed me a Magnum extra-large condom, that was the only good part."

"Okay, that's it, no more acid for you before bed." When his joke elicited a laugh, Nick tried another, "Please don't worry, I won't be ridin' away on a giraffe with anyone but you, honey, I promise. Hell, I couldn't hook up with Mandy even if I wanted to, because she's slept with Warrick about five, six years ago, and he and I have a rule about never sharing women."

"I didn't know they hooked up."

"It didn't last long and after he abruptly broke it off, it was ugly for a while. She was pissed at me by association, but I confronted her about it, sayin' that just because 'Rick and I were buds doesn't mean she and I couldn't still be pals. We were cool after that."

Greg silently digested the new information.

"Hey…" While rhythmically stroking Greg's hair, he said, "These nightmares you're still havin', they'll get less frequent as time goes by. I still have 'em and it'll be two years next week since I almost died, but now I only have 'em when somethin' happens before I go to bed that reminds me of the ordeal. It'll get better." After a kiss to his cheek, he whispered, "Try to get some sleep, I'll be right here."

With their backs to the open bedroom door, the two men had no idea that Eileen was standing in the hallway.

During the conference break, the flustered woman had discovered that her purse wasn't in her tote bag and she raced to her brother's home to make sure it was there and not lost. The sound of Greg screaming was the first noise she heard upon entering and she had wrongly assumed that painful taboo sex was the cause of his shrieking. The tenderness she discovered instead came as huge surprise. She never imagined that snuggling and offering comfort were something homosexuals did. Hearing her brother soothe a man like a devout husband would a scared wife, stunned her. It sounded as though he loved him. They looked like a devoted couple spooning in bed and it reminded her of her and Trevor before their five children arrived and he got the time consuming Associate Pastor job at Calvary Christian. An odd mixture of envy, curiosity and confusion consumed her and much to her surprise, she had to force herself to leave and stop enjoying the sweetness.

* * *

"How bad was it?" Catherine purred while swirling her fingernails over her secret lover's sweaty chest. 

"Baaaaaaad," he replied, still shivering with delight. "Even badder than the first and second times." They had fallen asleep in each other's arms and when they woke up at six pm they went for Round 3 without exchanging a word.

"Did Sweet as Candy Mandy ever rock your world like that?"

"**No one** has **ever** rocked my world like that, baby." He wasn't even exaggerating. "The third time was definitely a charm."

"Aww." She nipped at his earlobe. "You're probably lying, but I don't care."

"How the hell am I going to keep my hands off you at work tonight after having them all over your damn body all day?"

"Gil and Sara seem to manage."

He got a good laugh out of the reply. "Those two are all about eye sex, not real sex."

* * *

"Good Boy," Sara joked as she crashed onto the sheets on her belly. 

After a playful smack to his lover's ass, Gil snickered like a dirty old man, "And because you were such a good girl, no dumpster diving or decomp for you tonight, CSI Sidle."

"I feel so bad when you say stuff like that." She flipped onto her back and released a naughty grin. "**Very** bad. What else do you have to say, Boss Man?"

"If you wash my back in the shower, I'll let you pick a cold case if it's slow."

"Ooh!" She sprung off the bed like a gazelle. "This night is off to a** great** start!"

* * *

**ANs: **

And the second half of the night will be in the next chapter posting around Wednesday. I hope you're looking forward to it : ) Just in case anyone is concerned - while there are a bunch of new 'couples' getting small scenes, they are not going to take over the story. In these early chapters I'm building a framework and then the two main couples will have plots within that framework.

Just an FYI - If you skipped the second G/N scene because you don't like reading their love scenes (I totally understand that those scenes are not everyone's cup of tea LOL no problem), but I thought I'd say for plot purposes, it turns out not to be a sex scene, but Greg having a crazy nightmare fueled by all the things troubling him from the day and in his life. There are some important plot details in there as well. **Your hints that it was a dream were -** Greg wasn't talking at the very end when Nick was saying stuff. Then I cut to Mandy, and when it came right back to Greg, he wasn't tired and Nick handed him a Magnum (extra large) condom LOL clearly Greg was dreaming!

**Labrat **– you asked for Eileen to catch Nick and Greg in the act. LOL I hope you enjoyed the nightmare scene as it kind of fulfilled your wish!

According to the Ultimate CSI Guide, it's canon that Warrick and Mandy dated and had a bad break up. I had no idea until I read the book. But apparently there's an episode where Warrick and Sara are in her lab and she gets really pissy and Sara can tell there's something there.

Thank you for your comments on the last chapter! They definitely provided encouragement to write while I was swamped with real life. (School starts Monday woohoo!) I've replied to everyone who emailed, reviewed or commented in the GB. If for some reason you didn't get a reply, please let me know. I've had 3 cases now of emails not coming through my spam filter.

Thanks to KJT and my husband for their valuable contributions!

**Thanks for reading! **

**Maggs **


	5. Chapter 5: What Comes Around Goes Around

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 5: What Comes Around Goes Around**

When Mandy heard the familiar buzz of her alarm clock, she darted out of bed ready to begin a new chapter in her life. "It's date night, girls!" the excited woman informed her lazing cats on the way to the bathroom.

In less than sixty seconds, she was in the shower and lecturing herself. _You have to get a grip and play it cool tonight. No accidental talk of babies or weddings, not yours or your sisters. Just go out and have a good time, if something comes out of it, great. If not, it's back to square one with someone else, no big deal…but let's hope it doesn't come to that._

Dispensing shaving gel, she sighed. _Bikini wax, manicure, pedicure, eyebrow tweezing, deep hair conditioning, extra flossing, where does it end? I feel like I've been prepping forever. Guys have it __**so**__ easy compared to women. They have to shower, brush and shave their face, that's it. Some of the losers I've dated didn't even do that well! And it takes us at least an hour to get ready, but guys can be out the door in five minutes. _With a shaky hand, she began meticulously shaving her right leg. _Guys do have to do the asking and come up with something special if they want to impress a girl. The really nice ones go out and buy flowers or candy before a first date. Hmm, I wonder if my date is doing anything special to get ready for tonight. _

* * *

"Yes!" Greg exclaimed as he joyfully thrashed in the bedding. There wouldn't be an ounce of tension left in his body when he showed up on Mandy's doorstep later. "That's perfect. Oh!" He begged, "Don't change a thing." Since Nick had declared his bed a 'sleep only zone', it was a pleasant surprise to wake up and find his man hard at work under the covers. "**Oh** yeah. Yesssssss. I'm…" He had a history of never finishing that sentence in time. 

"I love my new alarm clock!" Greg joked when his power of speech was restored. "Can I keep him? Can I keep him?"

"Howdy," Nick playfully greeted his partner when he poked his head out from under the comforter.

"Howdy, pardner." Greg tipped his imaginary ten gallon hat and spoke in his best drawl, "Thanks for moseying on down there."

"It was my pleasure." With a satisfied smile plastered on his face, Nick lunged for the water bottle on the nightstand and took a swig. "Well?" He prodded, always eager for feedback. "Not to toot my own horn, but I thought I tooted yours pretty well."

"Yes, indeed." Relaxing against the mound of pillows that were now smashed into one corner of the bed, Greg delivered the news he knew his perfectionist partner had been longing to hear, "Congratulations, Mr. Stokes, you've earned your BJBA from Las Vegas Hummer University in record time. We certainly hope you'll pursue a Master's and Ph.D here at LVHU, because an advanced education will really help you get ahead. Does the proud graduate have anything to say?"

"Yes." Nick struggled to keep a straight face. "I want to thank you for comin' tonight. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Ha!" While sliding down his laughing lover's body, Greg hummed Pomp and Circumstance and when he arrived at his intended target, he didn't stop.

With this hands laced behind his head, Nick settled in against the rumpled bedding and hummed along. "As far as graduation gifts go, this is way better than a pen."

A new joke popping into his twisted mind, Greg lifted his head and spoke in his best public service announcement voice, "Here at the LVHU Graduate School we believe in one-on-one personalized attention. Yes, our dedicated and experienced staff is 100 percent committed to helping you achieve. For more details on our advanced programs, log into our website at www dot lvhu69 dot com. Stay classy, San Diego."

As his wacky partner returned to task, Nick shook his head. "You really are nuts, ya know that?"

Greg glanced up. "Do what to your nuts?" After pretending to remove Nick's anatomy from the side of his head, he explained, "Sorry, I couldn't hear you, I had a banana in my ear."

"You are definitely in the zone for goin' to Peter Piper Pizza tonight, ya big goofball."

"I'm hoping to earn enough tickets at Skee Ball to get a Whoopee Cushion at the prize counter. I want to stick it on Grissom's chair during our staff meeting later, so everyone will think he farted." Greg added a Beavis laugh for added effect. Then, in the voice of a master thespian, he explained, "I'm a character actor! I'm embodying the part of a hapless dork before I go on stage."

"Talk about type-casting." Closing his eyes, Nick cracked a wild grin. "I'm officially not worried about Mandy wantin' a second date."

* * *

While trying to balance her cordless phone and put on mascara Mandy explained to Wendy, "I know it sounds like Greg's being cheap, but I'm sure he just wanted to go someplace fun and pressure-free for our first date. I mean, who can't have fun at Peter Piper Pizza, right?" 

"Me," Wendy, the aunt of four, droned, "The last time I was there, at my nephew's 6th birthday party, I got vomited on by some fat kid who had stuffed his face with Pixie Sticks, Root Beer and Pepperoni Pizza for two hours. Seriously, there's more DNA in that place than Catherine Willows's bed."

Mandy hissed like a rabid cat. "You're so bad!"

"I'm sorry, but that shirt she was wearing yesterday was totally inappropriate for the workplace. Who does she think she is? One of those TV Crime Drama actresses? Those bimbos may run through the streets of Vegas sporting high heels and excess cleavage but in real life, she'd trip and her boobs would pop out of her blouse as she fell."

Still bitter over being dumped years ago, Mandy snarked, "I'm sure CSI Brown would love that."

"Now who is the rabid cat?"

Mandy quickly changed the subject, "I watch those crime shows to count the number of times the supposed CSIs touch stuff at the crime scene without gloves. Sometimes, I think that every print they lift has to be theirs."

"My biggest pet peeve is the chicks swinging their lonnnnng blonde hair around over the DB while they're collecting evidence. If they shed the way I do, they must drop two dozen hair samples on the corpse. Seriously, would it be that cost-prohibitive to hire a real CSI to stand on set and say 'we wouldn't do that'?"

"They can't make the characters and the show realistic, Wen." Mandy laughed, "Because watching real science nerds do their real jobs for an hour would be as interesting as watching paint dry. I spent two hours on a single partial print last night. On TV it takes two seconds."

Wendy teased her best friend in a sing-song voice, "You slaaaaaved over the print because it was Greggy's case."

"Shut up." Checking the time, Mandy abruptly said, "Ooh! I need to go. I didn't realize I was out of wine until ten minutes ago, so I need to run to the store and get a chilled bottle of Chardonnay for my fridge."

* * *

Stepping out of the shower, Nick called over to Greg, who was at the sink in a pair of grey boxer briefs and shaving, "Wow, you really are goin' for the dork look. Cuttin' yourself shavin' and stickin' little pieces of toilet paper on the bloody spots is a nice touch." 

"That's not part of my act," Greg laughed. "I have date jitters and a shaky hand. First dates always made me a little edgy, but a fake first date with a girl I don't want to hurt is much worse."

Nick came up behind his tense lover and wrapped his arms around his waist. "I wish I could tell you to come clean with Mandy, but I can't. Thank you for doing this for me." Resting his chin on his partner's shoulder, he said, "Seein' the disgust on my sister's face really made me stop and think about how homophobic guys like Vartann and Cavaliere would look at me when I show up to work a scene."

"You do realize that if you want to have a kid someday, you'll have to come out, because no one is going to buy two straight guys raising a kid together."

"Maybe they would," Nick chuckled, "There's precedent. Remember that TV show My Two Dads? We could copy that story and say we both slept with the same woman on the same night and then never saw her again. Years later on her deathbed, the woman admitted that the daddy is one of us."

"Uh…as a DNA Specialist I feel obligated to point out that paternity testing would solve the mystery. Besides that, I don't want my kid lying or thinking that their dads are irresponsible man-sluts." Noting the time, Greg abruptly said, "Shoot. We'll have to continue this conversation later, I need to get dressed and go."

"C'mere." Nick wanted to part ways for the night with a tender kiss that would leave his significant other dreaming of him. "Call me when you're…"

"The second I'm in my car."

Nodding, the anxious boyfriend whispered, "I love ya, G."

"I know you do." Strolling out of the bathroom, Greg sang with a twang, "Cletus, don't you stress about my date with Mannndy! 'Cause that hummer you gave me was just dannnnndy. I'm not remotely rannnnndy."

"And you wonder why I'm nervous about tellin' people you're mine!" After the goofball was gone, Nick pondered what Doctor Henry had told him earlier. '_If you decide to come out, you can expect about twenty percent of the guys you work with to openly express their disgust in a manner that's hurtful, but yet legal. They're really good at not violating workplace harassment laws and still getting their point across. About another thirty percent will openly gossip about you behind your back…'_

* * *

"Do you think they could be getting it on?" Catherine asked Warrick while they stood in her kitchen sipping coffee. "Maybe they just bonded over having near-death experiences. Maybe they're not really gay, but just really close to each other in a non-sexual way." 

"I can't believe you're still obsessing over this."

"And you're not?" she laughed.

"I've blocked it."

"You were able to block the image of Nicky inserting his fingers in Greg's mouth and watching him joyfully suck them clean?"

"Yeah." Warrick grumbled, "until you went and shoved it back in my mind's eye."

"Oh!" Lindsay shrieked when she walked into the kitchen. "My eyes!" The dramatic teen covered turned so her back was to the naked perverts. "What happened to our no guys in the house rule, Mom?"

Warrick grabbed a dishtowel from the counter and held the small cloth in front of his loins.

With a box of Fruit Loops in front of her chest, Catherine barked from behind the kitchen counter, "What happened to you studying at Monica's until nine?"

"I left when she started yakking up the pizza we had for dinner."

"Oh." Catherine's frustration diffused into embarrassment, "I know I said no more men in the house, but this isn't a man, it's Warrick." When she saw her macho lover's feather's ruffle, she explained, "I mean he's not a stranger or a pig, he's a trusted friend who as of today became more than a friend."

The obnoxious teen couldn't resist harassing the couple, "Aww, did I bust up your sweet and innocent first time? Me bad. Wait a minute - CSI Brown, aren't you married?"

Mortified to be standing in the kitchen wearing a makeshift loin cloth, he cleared his throat and replied, "We're going to court on May 5th to finalize our divorce."

"That means you're still technically her husband." Lindsay grabbed a red apple from the counter and held it up. "Party on, sinners! Mom, if you need me, I'll be in my room blogging out my frustrations over the double standards in this house." Strolling out of the kitchen she began listing them, "I can't have a guy over, but she can. I can't break the house rules, but she can. I can't lie, but she can. I can't get Botox Treatments, but she can! Hypocrite!"

* * *

"Have a good night, Greg." Eileen forced a smile in the direction of her brother's homosexual lover who had informed her that he was going into work early and unable to stay for dinner. "Stay safe out there." 

"Thanks a lot," he replied with a hint of surprise in his voice. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, I'll be here all day," she huffed, "my church group demanded a refund from the conference coordinators yesterday, so I won't be finishin' out the week there. Some of them are goin' home early, but I felt obligated to stay here and try to understand my brother's predicament."

"Why did you demand a refund?" Greg asked, too curious not to know.

"Because it turned out to be a gathering of liberals instead of proper Christians. They even allowed some of you in." When she saw his confusion, she whispered, "They allowed gay ministers to attend. As if you could be a man of God preachin' the Good Book after rollin' around in bed with a man before church. It's insanity. How can you tell people to follow the Word of the Lord when you're breakin' His rules? That's like havin' an arsonist lecture about fire prevention. Those liberal wingnuts had the nerve to say Creationism is bunk too. That right there shows their ignorance, you know? But how can they believe in Adam and Eve when they so clearly want to re-write the Bible to include Adam and Steve. No offense to your kind, but it's ridiculous."

"Wow, look at the time!" Greg exclaimed, suddenly happy to be going on his date from hell. "I'd love to stay and chat, but duty calls. Night!"

"Night!" Eileen watched the man walk out the door and when she was sure he was gone, she raced to her tote bag full of Conversion Therapy materials. "Nicky! Supper's almost ready!" After witnessing her brother cuddling another man, she realized that he was suffering from an intense need for affection brought on by a lack of tenderness from their father. Her plan was to soothe the misguided man with comfort food and then tell him he needed help.

"That meatloaf smells great, sis!" Nick declared while walking into the kitchen rubbing his hands together. "I can't wait to dig in."

"What are your plans for the evenin', sugar?"

"I'm goin' into Cassie's class tomorrow, so I need to prepare some stuff for that. Last month, the teacher sent home permission slips for me to take fingerprints and DNA swabs of the kids so their information will be on file. God forbid anything happened to one of them, it would help us find them, or identify them and bring their killer to justice. I came up with the idea when I was workin' a case of a missin' boy. The mom didn't have a DNA sample to provide to aid in the investigation. Finally she remembered that she had an old baby tooth. If it weren't for that tooth, we wouldn't have been able to verify it was the boy's DNA we found at the scene. I'm piloting the program with Cassie's 5th grade class and if it goes well, Grissom's gonna help me pitch it to the Sheriff and see if we can do somethin' Countywide."

"How do you get a DNA sample from a child? Does it hurt?"

"No, not at all. It's no more than rubbin' a Q-tip inside the kid's cheek. It's quick and painless."

In a whisper she asked, "Don't you think some of the parents might be upset if they knew a homosexual man was stickin' somethin' inside their boy's open mouth? I know I would, honey. No offense."

Doing his best to stay calm, Nick replied, "Bein' a gay man and bein' a pedophile are two completely different things. Just because I like men, does **not** mean I like little boys, no more than a straight man who is attracted to women wants to have sex with little girls. A pedophile is a mentally ill adult who is sexually attracted to children and when they act on those abhorrent feelings, it's a crime. Homosexuality isn't a mental illness and it's not a crime when two consenting adults engage in sexual activity."

"Only recently, Nicky, it used to be a crime."

"Yeah, well, it used to be a crime for black folks to drink from water fountains designated for white folks, and women couldn't vote a hundred years ago because they were second class citizens. As we get smarter, the ignorant laws that were made based on fear and misunderstanding are tossed out. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality off its disorders list in 1973, isn't it about time for your church to catch up?"

"Nicky, the Bible stands the test of time. Its rules are to be followed without question forever or until God Himself tells us otherwise."

"Oh really." He stuffed his hands on his hips. "The Bible says not to eat shrimp, but you told me that you and your friends shelled and ate a ton of 'em at the buffet lunch you went to today. And that's not the only rule you don't follow, is it? The truth is y'all only follow the ones that don't cause** you** any inconvenience, but ignore the ones that do. Admit it, Eileen, you're a hypocrite. You may talk a good talk, but you don't walk the walk any better than me…maybe worse."

Before the stunned sister could form a reply, the doorbell rang and Nick was on his way to answer it.

Outraged by her brother's accusation, Eileen spat, "Jesus changed the shellfish rule when he walked the Earth and understood them better! Good Christians know that!"

"Can I help you?" Nick asked the young women standing on his doorstep.

"Are you Nick Stokes of the Las Vegas Police Department?"

His old fears kicking in, Nick authoritatively asked, "Who are you and why do you want to know?" While waiting for an answer, he scanned the front lawn for suspicious activity.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. I would have called, but I only had your address, not your phone number." The nervous woman extended her hand. "I'm Sally's daughter, Lucinda Stark. I came to thank you. She called me collect today and took me up on my standing offer to get her off the streets and pay for rehab. She said you had been trying to talk sense into her for years and last night it just clicked." Her eyes filling with tears, she said, "From what she told me, you're her guardian angel. I had to see you for myself to believe that you were real and not one of her drunken hallucinations."

"Lucinda, yeah, Sally talked about you all the time." Nick filled with pride as he beamed a smile at the crying woman. "That's great news that she's ready to get some help. Sorry, where are my manners. Would you like to come in and have somethin' to drink?"

"I appreciate the gesture, but I can't. My husband is back at the hotel with my mom and we need to get ready for our flight." Stepping forward, she threw her arms around her mother's savior. "I imagine that thousands of people walked by my mother on The Strip every night and ignored her or sneered at her. Bless you, Mr. Stokes for stopping to help her. I don't know if you're a Christian, or even a religious person, but I am, and I just want to say that I'm in awe of you. Like Jesus, you weren't afraid to walk with the wayward sheep. You reached out to my mother when she was lost and got her to see the light." Wiping her tears, she said, "Thank you for saving my children's grandmother. You'll be in my prayers tonight and long after that."

Eileen marched over to the door. "Who is this woman really?" she snipped. "You obviously asked her to come here and say this stuff."

"I've never seen or spoken to her before in my life," Nick replied, still buzzing from the good news. "Her mother is an alcoholic homeless woman named Sally that I met and befriended years ago while workin' a case. I hung out on the Strip with Sally last night instead of you. That speaks volumes about how you're makin' me feel, huh?"

"He's right," Lucinda told the obviously irate woman glaring at her. "I don't even live in Nevada." Spooked by the harsh stare, she jittered, "Uh…I don't know what the problem is here, but would you like to see some ID?"

"No, that's okay." Eileen fell silent.

"Don't mind her," Nick said with a smile, "she's just my holier than thou sister. This is gonna sound like an odd question, Lucinda, but if you could bear with me, I'd really appreciate it."

"Anything, Mr. Stokes, I'm in your debt."

"Hypothetically, as a Christian woman, would your opinion of me or my actions change if I was to say I'm gay and in a committed relationship with another man?"

Lucinda laughed at the hypothetical, "How on Earth would who you cuddle at night lessen what you did for my mother or my family? I don't have a problem with gay people, Mr. Stokes." Taking a guess about the situation, she added, "While many Christians will hassle you, not all of them will. My church has several gay couples who attend regularly and two of the men sing with me in the choir. They've very dramatic and emotional singers," she chuckled, "it wouldn't be the same without them. We feel the Lord appreciates them singing his praises as much as anyone else there." Smiling at the teary-eyed man, she assured, "We'd be honored to bear witness to your testimony any day and have you sit in one of our pews."

"Thank you for your candor." Nick returned her warm smile. "You tell Sally I'm pullin' for her, okay?"

"Okay."

Reaching into his wallet he grabbed a business card. "Here's my number and email address. If you could give me an update…"

"Absolutely." The woman stole another hug. "Take care, Mr. Stokes." She walked away backwards waving and crying. "Good night."

"Good night, ma'am." After shutting the door, Nick took a deep breath and turned to face his sister. "Can I get an AMEN?!" He turned his eyes to the ceiling. "Thank you, Jesus! Because clearly that woman was heaven sent!"

"That woman showin' up in the middle of our conversation was far too surreal to believe!"

"Welcome to my world, Sis! Weird shit happens to me** all** the time. I've been chased, stalked, and buried alive." He broke into a huge grin, "It was kinda nice havin' somethin' weirdly good happen for a change. I was due." Filling with confidence, he continued where he had left off when the doorbell rang. "**You **are a shellfish eatin' hypocrite. Lucinda is a real Christian and so am I. I'm** done** feelin' bad about who I am. Done! I'm a good person, with a kind heart and more integrity in my pinky than you have in your entire body. I love Greg and there's nothin' shameful or dirty about our relationship. We're just a happy couple lovin' and supportin' each other while tryin' to survive in this crazy heartless world. We're gonna get a dog, a new house with a big yard, and one day we're gonna have a kid or two."

"I certainly hope you mean a baby goat when you say 'kid', because I could **maybe **stomach the two of you choosing to live your lives as gay men, but subjecting a child to ridicule because his parents are livin' in sin is terribly cruel."

"Without cruel people like you makin' the kids of gay parents feel bad, they wouldn't suffer! Can't you see that? **You** and people like you are the ones inflictin' the pain on innocent people. All Greg and I are doin' is livin'our lives in peace. We're not hurtin' anyone, we actually help people every damn day, but **you**…youhurt people every day with hateful and judgmental words."

"If by judgmental words, you mean the quoting from the Bible, then I plead guilty!"

"What does the Good Book say about invading the privacy of others? Hmm?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I know you went snoopin' in my bedroom. Don't bother denyin' it either, 'cause I rigged the drawers and doors with little pieces of paper. Every time you opened one of them, the paper balanced in the crack fell to the ground. You picked my bedroom lock and then you went into my nightstand drawers, my bathroom, and my shower."

"Why on Earth would you go and do that?!"

"Because after you get stalked, kidnapped and tortured, you get a little paranoid! I could tell you were actin' shifty and I remembered from growin' up how nosy you were."

Holding her head high, she replied, "It was for your own good, Nicky. I…I wanted to make sure you were practicin' safe sex. I was worried about you gettin' sick. It would kill Mama to have her little boy die of the gay plague."

"Oh that's bullshit and you know it. You did it because you're a busybody. You've been snoopin' since you were a kid. You and Linda. Like the time you found pot in Gwen's room and turned her in to Mom and Dad."

"For her own good! Just like this time with you."

"Did ya get all kinds of giddy when you found my condoms and lube? Too bad you didn't check under the bed, there's a box full of kinky sex toys under there includin' a pretty pair of purple beads and they're not for wearin' around the neck." He winked. "Oh yeah, there's lots of crazy sex goin' on in this place. I'd never get out of bed if I didn't have to, it's all I think about and live for, sex, sex and more sex. Hell, the only reason I work is to support my habit and buy more crazy kinky sex toys. The second Greg walks in the door, I bend him over and do him for hours, then I let him rest for ten minutes and do it again. Is that what you wanted to hear, you sneaky hypocrite?"

"It's not too late, Nicky!" Tears formed in her eyes. "Even though you've done the nasty-nasty with Greg, you can beg the Lord for forgiveness. Repent and vow not to touch another man. You can still have feelings and fantasies, but as long as you don't act on them, you'll be saved. If you're not strong enough to do it on your own, there are people and places that can help you get back in God's good graces."

Nick broke into laughter. "I did a little snoopin' of my own when you were in the guest room. I peeked in your tote bag full of propaganda. I'm not checkin' in to gay rehab. I'm happy just the way I am. If you can't love me because I'm gay, that's fine. If I'm not welcome to the ranch at Christmas, so be it. It'll hurt," he stated in a voice crackling with emotion, "but not half as much as livin' a lie."

* * *

"Hey, Mandy!" Greg stood on his date's doorstep grinning. "Wow! You look really, really pretty." The fact that she had put a lot of time and effort into her appearance only made him feel worse. 

"Thanks, Greg," she replied while curiosity got the best of her. "Why are you holding a fishbowl?"

"Oh!" He thrust the small bowl forward. "I wanted to buy you something and I figured other guys probably went the candy and flowers route, so I opted to get you a Beta Fish in a bowl. A red one." He winked. "Red for romance. Do you like him?"

"Really? Wow!" _He bought me a fish?! _"He's…beautiful." She admired the Beta. I can honestly say this is a first. I've never had a guy bring me a fish before."

"Cool!" The dork burst into a smile as he followed his date inside. "I was going for unique."

"You wear a retainer?" Mandy asked when she saw the silver wire across Greg's upper set of teeth.

"Doh!" Rushing his hand to his mouth, he apologized, "Sorry, I meant to take it out before I left home." When he popped it out, the saliva-covered retainer sailed through the air and landed just below Mandy's neck where it briefly stuck to her flesh before falling into the fish bowl.

Greg burst into hysterical laughter. "What are the odds of that happening?! I bet I couldn't re-create that if I tried! Do you want me to try?"

"No, that's okay." She let him remove the retainer and pointed to the bathroom. If you want to wash up, the powder room is right over there."

"Thanks." He lowered his voice to a whisper, "I forgot to go before I left home, so I was going to ask to use it anyway. Be right back."

"I'll pour us some wine."

"None for me, thanks." Greg shook his head. "I can't mix alcohol with my meds."

"Oh."

"I'm not like a total psycho or anything. I had a hard time after the beating and…it's not permanent, my therapist is going to taper me off them eventually." Sighing, he added, "Not drinking is the only bad part. Well, that and the mild sexual side effects." He gripped his head. "I can't believe I said that out loud on a date." He repeatedly slapped his forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"It's okay!" Mandy grabbed his hand. "Really, it's…let me put the fish down and I'll make coffee, I know you like that."

"Thanks." He breathed deep and pushed out a smile. "I'll be right back."

Walking into the kitchen with her new pet, she could hear Jacqui's future laughter echoing in her head. _A fish?! He brought you a fish?!_ After setting the bowl on the counter, she hurried to the coffee maker to brew a pot_. I hope Starbucks is okay. He's always going on about that Hawaiian stuff._ "Oh! Girls! No!" But it was too late, her new Beta fish was cat food. _Oh my God! My date fish is dead!_

"I'm back!" Greg bopped into the kitchen waving a small container. "I forgot to give you the food for the little guy. What are you going to name him?"

"About the fish…"

Greg peered into the seemingly empty bowl. "Where did he go?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tabby cat licking her lips. "Did she…"

"I'm so sorry."

"I forgot you had cats." He was desperate to laugh, but suppressed it, feigning deep sorrow instead. "Darn it! I shoulda brought flowers." He slapped his forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Hey!" Hoping to cheer him up, she suggested, "How about we skip the coffee and go straight to the coin show? I'm really looking forward to it."

"Really?"

"Yes," she lied, "I even called my family to tell them all about it."

* * *

"Mama," Eileen sniffled into the phone. "Are you sittin' down?" Standing in the guest bathroom, she held her head and said, "I have some terrible news about Nicky."

"My God, what?!" Jillian Stokes shrieked into the phone. "Is he hurt? Or worse?"

"Worse, much worse," she sobbed, "He's gay!"

After a lengthy pause, the troubled mother asked in a quivering voice, "Are you sure, honey?"

"Yes, I'm positive. He's sharin' his home and bed with his co-worker Greg Sanders. You and Daddy have to come to Vegas right away. We need to have an intervention."

* * *

"I got us a nice room at the Bellagio for tomorrow night and Wednesday," Dave Sanders informed his wife. "Did you call Greg and tell him that the doctor bumped up Jenni's discharge to Thursday?"

"He didn't answer, so I left him a voicemail with the details."

"Good."

"I told him we'd swing by the grocery store on the way into town and pick up everything to make Nana Olaf's stuffed French toast for breakfast. I said we'd be at his place at 9:30am sharp. Tuesday is his regular night off, so he won't have to go to bed early. I thought we could all pop over and see Jenni after breakfast as one big happy family."

"Nick too?"

"Of course, sweetheart," the loving mother sighed, "he's a part of our family now too. Besides, I think it's best that Jenni knows before she moves in and sees the house full of framed photos of the two arm in arm."

Dave kissed his wife's cheek. "Sounds good to me."

* * *

"Mama sounded awful when I broke the news," Eileen informed her twin sister. "So, who all is comin' out for the intervention besides Mama and Daddy?"

"Just me, Nancy and Chuck. Marcia is too pregnant to fly and we thought it best to keep it from Gwen since she'd probably feel sorry for him and take his side."

"What time do y'all get in tomorrow?"

"We land at eight-thirty, so we'll probably be at your place about an hour after that."

"Nicky stormed out and said he wouldn't be back until tomorrow. If he's not here when y'all arrive, I'll call and tell him somethin' is wrong with the plumbin', askin' him to come home quickly. That should do it."

"Do you think we can get him to see the light?"

"There is strength in numbers, and once he sees Mama cry I think he'll change his tune." Eileen grumbled, "The only thing I'm worried about is Greg."

* * *

Feeling sorry for Greg, who was the sweetest dork she had ever met, Mandy pretended to be having the time of her life. "This coin show was even better than I thought it was going to be!"

"Really?" _Then you must be more desperate for a boyfriend than I thought. _Even though he was a collector, that particular show had been exciting as watching paint dry. _Maybe she's just humoring me._ "I'm glad you're having fun."

"Of course I am." She slipped her hand into his as they strolled toward Peter Piper. Dreading the chaos ahead, she forced a sunny smile. "Ready to get your butt kicked at Skee Ball?"

"Ha! You must be joking." Greg released a riotous laugh. "No one** ever** beats me at Skee Ball."

"Oh really. Care to make a little wager?"

"How much?"

"Not money." Mandy snickered, "Who ever loses has to do what the other person says the rest of the night."

"Oh, you're on!" Forgetting the premise of the date for a moment, Greg eagerly replied. "I have six loads of laundry in my closet that I'd love to watch you do."

"My cats' litter is pretty full," she countered, "and my toilets could use a good scrub."

Opening the door for his date, Greg remarked in his best Voice of Doom, "You're goin' down, Missy."

Mandy winked at the cute geek before her. "Why Gregory Hojem Sanders, I didn't think this was a sex bet!" After pressing a kiss to his cheek she whispered in his ear, "But I'm glad it is."

Greg's carefree expression faded as they approached the Skee Ball area. _I didn't mean that kind of going down!_

"Did I neglect to mention that I was the Skee Ball champ back at Cal Poly?" Mandy cracked her knuckles. "Oh yeah, you'll be the one going down tonight." She giggled, "Good thing I sprung for a Brazilian Wax."

Watching his date snag the highest possible score on her first game, Greg knew he was in trouble, big trouble.

* * *

"Pass the soy sauce, honey," Sara pointed at the container on the table.

"Did you forget we were in public?" Grissom reminded his lover in a whisper. "You called me the H word at the Chinese restaurant across from the office. Half the people in here are LVPD using a buy one get one free coupon."

"Sorry." She grabbed the soy sauce herself. "I let my guard down."

"Well don't." Gil's paranoia kicked in when he saw Hodges appear in the doorway of the restaurant. "Because it feels like the calm before a storm to me."

* * *

**ANs: **

And the forecast for the next chapter isn't sunny! Although some of it will be funny. LOL

I'm posting this on the fly. My husband had to edit the last 2/3 since I couldn't get it to KJT in time for her to do it with the time difference. It's been a MUCH crazier week than anticipated with very little Internet time. I hope you'll forgive me for not reply to the reviews of the last chapter yet. I used every second at the keyboard to get this chapter done and up on time. Thanks for understanding!

I'm hoping to get the next chapter up around Monday. Crosses fingers for a calmer week! Thanks for the encouragement, it definitely helps motivate me to find the time to get the next chapter done even when I'm swamped. I appreciate it!

**Thanks,  
****Maggs **


	6. Chapter 6  When Worlds Collide Part 1

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 6: When Worlds Collide – Part 1**

"We meet again," said Hodges with suspicion in his eyes. "First Petsmart and now this. Let me guess, you just happened to bump into one another and decided to share a table."

"No," Grissom curtly answered. "We met here before going into work to discuss a cold case that Sara is working on in her spare time. I often meet co-workers for dinner when I find their company enjoyable and educational. I had dinner with Jim Brass last night as a matter of fact."

"You've never met me for dinner," the Trace Tech replied with indignation.

Grinning, Grissom lifted his Iced Tea. "That's right."

"My company is enjoyable," Hodges protested upon figuring out the subtext.

"Says who?" Sara asked after crunching a Chinese noodle. "State your source." Just as he was about to answer, she added a caveat, "And it can't be your mother."

His one and only answer forbidden, Hodges closed his mouth and huffed off to the order counter.

* * *

"Our pizza order is up, Slave Boy!" Mandy snapped her fingers. "While you're grabbing the 'za, I'll think of what I want you to do next." 

Greg didn't have to pretend to shake in his shoes. "Go easy on me, Mistress Mandy," he pleaded while sliding out of their booth. _I guess I can always say I'm having a Genital Herpes flare up._

While her date was standing in line for their order, Mandy stealthily called Wendy on her cell. "I have sixty seconds!"

"Did you earn enough prize tickets to buy yourself a pretty plastic ring?"

"I beat him at Skee Ball and he **cried!**"

"You are joking," Wendy replied in disbelief.

"No!"

"Like full on sobbing?!"

"No, but he glassed up and then excused himself to the bathroom. On his way there he mumbled about it being a really bad year for him."

"Between that and the fish part you told me about when you called me from the restroom of the coin show from hell, I only have three words for you, pal…run, Mandy, run!"

"I can't run out on him," Mandy huffed into the phone. "He's like a little puppy. You don't abandon a cute little puppy looking for love. Ooh! He's coming back, I've gotta go."

"One Pepperoni and Shroom pizza." Greg set it on the table. "I'm starving."

"Me too." In horror, she watched her date devour a slice, letting sauce and grease drip off his chin. "You really were hungry, huh?"

"I eat when I'm stressed."

"Is it the Flannigan case?"

"No," Greg whimpered. "Can I be completely honest with you about something confidential?"

"Of course."

With sauce and grease still glistening on his chin, he whispered, "Since this is a first date, I really didn't think we were gonna get naked, you know? I asked you out because I thought you weren't the kind of girl who wouldn't put out on a first date. But you keep insinuating that you want to get physical and since you won Skee Ball you have the power to order me to strip. I um…this is really embarrassing…I've got like this rash on my ass. I got soaked at work the other day and had to work in wet underwear for hours." Hanging his head, he confessed, "I have diaper rash and the only way to make it feel better is to coat myself with ointment. I don't want you to see my ointment covered ass rash. After losing every game of Skee Ball, I really couldn't handle another round of humiliation."

Lowering the piece of pizza that she no longer wanted to eat, Mandy sweetly said, "Would you rather just call it a night? I won't be offended."

"That would be great actually, because I didn't put nearly enough ointment on before I left." Greg shifted uncomfortably in the booth and then asked in a panic, "Wait! Can I take some pizza to go, or are you going to want the whole pie? Because it's really good and…"

"You can have the whole thing, Sweetie." Mandy grabbed her purse and waved. "I'll see you at work."

"Wait!" He waved her close and then whispered, "You're not going to tell anyone about my ass rash, are you?"

"No, I'll be keeping that to myself, trust me." She hurried for the door yelling, "Bye!"

* * *

"Stokes," Nick answered his cell phone while sitting in his car outside a house on his realtor's list. 

"Miss me, Cletus?"

The comforting sound of his partner's voice brought a smile to Nick's face. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"I miss you too."

"After you left, I had a big tiff with my sister and stormed out of the house. Too bad you're on a date, because I sure could use your company right now."

"My date just made a Houdini-worthy escape."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. Talking about my diaper rash problem did the trick." Greg's sweet laughter poured out of the phone. "The things we do for love. Where are ya, Cletus? I've got a hug with your name on it."

* * *

"Aww." Standing in her apartment doorway, Wendy opened her arms, "Gimme a hug, sister." 

"It was the worst date of my life," Mandy declared before breaking into laughter. "And he has all my prize tickets!"

"From the sound of things, he needed them more than you."

"Yeah, but I hit the jackpot twice on Super Slam. I had enough to buy a Whoopee Cushion."

The two women laughed their way into the living room.

"I ordered a pizza," Wendy announced as a joke. When her best friend shivered, she said, "Just kidding, I made some pasta and have a nice bottle of Merlot breathing on the table. Can I get you a glass?

"Make it a double." Mandy plopped on the couch. "I can't believe I thought Sanders was going to be different. After he went into the field he really seemed to grow up."

"I wasn't there before, so I wouldn't know."

"Oh yeah, he used to wear latex gloves on his head and spike his hair in six directions. You never knew which Greg you were going to get."

"Maybe because he has to be so serious on the job now, his inner-child comes out to play twice as hard when he's off duty."

* * *

"Last one undressed is a rotten egg!" Greg yelled as he stripped down to his boxers in the middle of the no-tell motel room Nick had secured for them. 

"I thought we were eatin' pizza," Nick said while watching his lover fall flat on his ass trying to get his pants off without taking off his shoes first.

"We are eating pizza…naked in bed." Kicking off his shoes, the impatient man explained, "Scientific studies show that skin-to-skin contact is very soothing. That's why roos live in their mother's pouches and premature babies are cuddled directly on their mother's chest."

"Okay, then." Nick set the pizza and six pack of beer on the dusty nightstand and tossed everything but his briefs.

"One more thing." Greg reached into his duffle bag and pulled out his ALS. "Gotta make sure the sheets are clean, because I don't really want an ass rash, bed bug bites or crabs."

"Everyone knows this is the cleanest hourly motel in Vegas. They not only change the sheets, they hose down the plastic mattress covered between customers. That's why they charge a lot more than the skanky places."

"How many bimbos did you bang here, Cletus?"

"Too many." Nick grabbed his Real Estate folder and confidently headed for the freshly hosed-off bed. "Would ya stop bein' a germphobic dork and get in here already, I want to show you some house pictures." He propped all the pillows against the headboard. "That gay-friendly lesbian realtor Doc Henry recommended pulled this stuff together in no time flat. Her name is Penny Galindo, and she was real nice on the phone and offered to bring the packet by our house, but with my psycho sister there, I swung by her office instead. She said to take a look and email her the Listing Numbers of the houses we want to see tomorrow on your day off."

With a beer in hand, Greg straddled Nick's thighs. "So is this realtor a lipstick or butchy lesbian?"

"Definitely lipstick," Nick laughed, "I was wonderin' the same thing as I was walkin' up to her office. How much caffeine did you drink at Peter Piper, man? You're bouncin' up and down on me like I'm a hobby horse."

"I drowned my Skee Ball sorrows in a pitcher of Mountain Dew."

"That would do it."

"Plus I'm excited to be talking about the house we don't have yet." Greg held out his hand. "Lemme see, lemme see."

"God, you're just what I needed after dealin' with my evil and depressing sister." Nick handed over a photo page. "Not to influence you, but that's my favorite and I want it bad."

"Ooh! The dog we don't have yet will love that big lawn and the kids we don't have yet will be jazzed about the swimming pool with the little slide built into the rocks."

"Yeah, Penny said those slides are all the rage in the new build neighborhoods. That house is only six months old. The husband has a government job and got a job transfer to DC. Our hotshot realtor found out that they're lookin' to sell fast, because if they don't get an offer in thirty days, they'll have to take the government's buy out offer because they can't swing two mortgages. She said the government offers are never too far above the comp price, so if we bid just a little above that they might jump, especially considerin' we both have excellent financials and responsible jobs."

Rocking on his partner's thighs, the caffeine-crazed man said, "The master suite looks like a great place to spend a lazy weekend, eh? Fireplace…Jacuzzi tub…and a double-wide shower. Fun, fun, fun." He glanced down. "Uh oh, the Mountain Dew hyperness just spread to my extremities."

"I didn't bring anything."

"You came to a notorious sex motel to meet your gay lover without supplies? Are you kidding me?" Greg riotously laughed, "We'll be the first people not to have sex in this room since it was built."

Not in the mood to make love, Nick said, "I didn't bring anything because I planned on lookin' at houses and eatin' pizza, G."

Cozying up alongside his partner's warm body, Greg reigned in his hyperness. "What's there to look at? I want the house you love, because I love you and I want you to be happy."

"What about you?" Nick shivered as the rim of his ear was explored with a wet warm tongue. "You need to be happy too. We're each kickin' in fifty grand, so we need to be equally happy."

"I can be happy anywhere with you." Locking his gaze on his man's emotional eyes, Greg said, "I wish I could make things better with your sister. I know you're hurting."

"It was ugly, really ugly and when I was stormin' out the front door, she said she was gonna call my father. I egged her on. I did it on purpose, because…I know I was supposed to wait and do things right, but I just wanted it over, G. The waitin' was givin' me an ulcer. I wanted her to tell them, but now that it really might happen…I think she was just tryin' to scare me, but maybe she really did call. I want to say I don't care what they think, but I want them to love me like your family loves you and if they don't…it's gonna hurt like hell."

Unable to make things better, Greg remained silent, stroking Nick's arm.

"What if I really never get to walk through the front door of my childhood home again? What if they don't want me around them at Christmas? Eileen said after she tells them I won't be allowed to toss a damn football with my nephews anymore. That's what they did to our Cousin Roy. What are they gonna say to the kids when I stop comin' there for visits?" Snapping from the tension building within, Nick's voice cracked, "She even ruined goin' to Cassie's class for me. You know how much I love doin' that."

"Huh? How did she ruin it?"

"I got excited about the ID project and when I told her all she said was that the parents wouldn't want me around their boys if they knew I was gay. Like they'd think I was tryin' to get off swabbin' the kids' mouths." Tears pooling in Nick's eyes, he said, "You should have seen her lookin' at me like I was some evil pedophile. She said she might call the school anonymously to tip them off that a queer was…"

"She said that to you?!" Greg jumped out of bed. "That's it. I'm done humoring her, Nick. Done! She's no longer welcome in our home. **You** may not be able to kick out your sister because she's family, but **I **can." He rushed to get dressed. "How dare she treat you like a sex offender! What does think? Does she think you went above and beyond to find Cassie just hoping that you'd score an elementary school gig out of it?" He released a primal scream.

"G…"

"No! I'm done being insulted under my roof! And I'm done watching you suffer! When you were buried alive, I had no choice but to stand there watching you get tortured on the big screen, but this time, I'm not powerless. Instead of ants ripping you apart piece by piece, that bitch is tearing you apart with words and threats. I can't believe she's related to you. When it comes to compassion, you're polar opposites."

Nick hurried out of bed. "G…"

"No! Don't try to stop me!"

"I'm not." Wiping his tears, Nick said, "I wanted to say thanks for handlin' her for me."

* * *

"You're welcome," Sara replied on her way out of the Chinese Restaurant. "But really it was nothing. I used a 'buy one get one free' coupon to treat you." 

"The real treat was Hodges, that moment of discovery when he realized I eat dinner with co-workers all the time but never him."

"Do you ever feel bad for picking on him?"

Gil pondered the question for two seconds. "No, because he brings it on himself, Sara. He's a science snob who goes around telling his co-workers that he's their intellectual superior."

"Hmm."

"What?"

Sara smirked, "Maybe you see a little of your old self in him and that's why he irritates you so much."

* * *

Sipping wine on the couch with her best friend, Mandy said, "Maybe he's just one of those freaky intellectual geniuses like Grissom with his cockroaches and collection of dead things. A quirky guy who's destined to be alone forever because he's just too out there. Not quite a total loser, like Hodges." 

"More like a tortured soul, like Picasso." Wendy snickered, "Once his ass rash clears up, maybe we should give Greg a mercy threesome and rock his world for just one night. It'll be like that cute scene in Almost Famous." They had just watched the movie together a few weeks ago during a Cameron Crowe and junk food binge. "You know the part, when the hippie girls deflower William because he's too timid to get the girl."

* * *

"Eileen!" Greg shouted as he marched through the house. "I'd like to have a word with you, please." 

"Why on Earth are you screamin' at me, Mister?!"

"Because I'm pissed off, that's why!" Greg snapped, "How dare you make your brother sound like a pedophile and dirty up the work he's doing in Cassie's class. I think you're confusing reality. Nick is a sex abuse survivor, not an offender. That's what makes this so much worse to hear. I can't believe you'd bring up such a sensitive subject, no less throw it in his face and say you'd call the school to warn them that a gay man is infiltrating their classrooms. Infiltrating?! It's one thing to have a problem with our lifestyle, that's fine with me, you're entitled to your religious beliefs and I respect that right, but to try and coerce your brother into gay rehab by threatening him is cruel and borderline illegal. If you call the school and slander Nick's name, I will contact my father's lawyers and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit as pleasurable as the eternal hellfire. Your family may have power in Texas, but it's worthless here. The trial would come down to who can afford the best lawyer and my family has a lot more money than yours."

"We were both very angry and I said those things in the heat of the moment." Eileen panicked as she envisioned losing her house and $10,000 nest egg. "I'd never call the school. With our father sittin' on the Supreme Court of Texas, the last thing we can afford is a scandal." It was true, things needed to be done as quietly as possible. "But as a parent, I am still very uncomfortable with the idea of a gay man looking into the mouths of young boys."

"You do realize there are gay doctors and dentists, right? They look in people's mouths all the time without getting aroused. Forget it, debating with you is pointless." After a deep breath, Greg asked the next burning question, "Did you call your parents?"

"No," she lied, not wanting to tip her hand and ruin the impact of the intervention.

"Good, because it's Nick's life and he's the one who should tell them. He's just waiting until he can fly out there and do it in person with me by his side. I'm going to swap some shifts so we can fly to Dallas on Friday." The real plan was to leave the next afternoon and break the news while the bitch wasn't there. "If you have any love left for your brother at all, you'll let him be the one to tell your parents."

"Fine."

"You can stay here tonight because it's late and you're already in your robe and pajamas, but in the morning, you're moving to the room I'm getting you at The Mandalay Bay." He knew the exhausted and broke mother of five wouldn't pass up a free stay at a luxurious hotel. It was the perfect way to get the moocher to stay in town while he and Nick were in Dallas. "I'll even get you a room service credit and a spa package. Please be out of here by 9am, because I don't want to be hassled when I come home from work." _And so you won't be here when my parents show up at ten._ "If Nick gets a call from Dallas saying you outed him, then I call the Mandalay and have them toss you out on your ear. Are we clear?"

"Buyin' my silence are you?" Accustomed to RV vacations with a demanding husband and five children, she struggled to suppress the squeal of excitement building within, but then she remembered her family would be showing up in the morning and she'd never get the chance. _Dammit! _

"I'll do whatever it takes to preserve Nick's peace of mind." He stared her down. "I know you think my relationship with your brother is only about sex, but I really do love him and would do anything for him. He's had so many bad things happen to him in life, I can't begin to understand why you would want to cause him even an ounce of pain. Maybe if you saw the hell he went through in that coffin you'd feel differently."

"The hell he went through in that coffin is nothin' compared to the hell he'll know if he doesn't repent and change his sinful ways. I do believe you think you're helpin' him, but you're not. You stand there lookin' down on me, accusin' me of hatin' my brother, when you couldn't be further from the truth." With a hand over her heart, she asked, "Who really loves him more, the man who wants him to be happy for the next forty years, or the woman who wants to spare him from eternal damnation? I know I'm doin' right by my brother, Mr. Sanders. Nicky's salvation is on the line and that's why I'll do what it takes to save him. Yes, I've crossed the line of decency and fair play, but I can't help it…I'm **that** scared for him. If he were addicted to drugs, I'd kidnap him and handcuff him to a chair to get him to stop poisonin' his body and I know he'd thank me later when his mind was clear from the poison. The same thing will happen here, you'll see. I think that's what you're afraid of…that I'll get him to leave you and change his ways."

Exasperated from the exchange, Greg gave up. "I'm just going to say goodbye." He headed for the door. "Enjoy your hotel stay. I'll see you in Dallas."

When the door shut, she replied, "That's what you think."

Riled from the encounter, Eileen walked over to the fridge to fix herself a snack. _I'll have to run to the store in the morning and pick up some pastries and fruit for the family. Ooh, maybe fruit is a bad choice considerin' the situation._ Just as she grabbed a slice of cheese to make a sandwich, there was a knock on the door. "Ugh. He must have left his damn car keys as an excuse to come back and get in a few more jabs."

Shaking her head, she marched for the door. "Look, Mr. Sanders, no matter what you say, I'm not gonna be happy my brother is gay!" When she opened the door Eileen was surprised to see a sexy woman in a tight, low cut blouse standing in the doorway. "Oh. I'm sorry, who are you?"

Still stunned by what she heard being yelled through the door, Catherine replied, "I'm uh...I'm a very close friend of Nick's." She extended her hand. "Catherine Willows. I've been at LVPD Crime Lab with Nick since his first day on the job. From what I heard, I assume you are one of his five sisters."

"Yes, I'm Eileen Stokes Maxwell." She pointed into the house. "Nicky's not home, but you probably knew that, right? First Greg, and now you. How many other defenders of my brother's sexuality should I expect? I wouldn't have put on my pajamas and robe if I knew there was going to be a gay pride parade here tonight. Why did they send you? Are you supposed to reason with me woman to woman? Or are you one of those lipstick lesbians?"

Catherine laughed her reply, "No, I'm not a lesbian, lipstick or otherwise, but I used to kiss girls for cash when I worked as a stripper."

"They let you work in law enforcement after taking your clothes off for money?"

"Are you kidding? I didn't even have to interview, the Lab Director took one look at my resume and my boobs and hired me on the spot."

"Sin City." Eileen rolled her eyes. "Look, I'll tell you exactly what I told my brother's lover, nothing you say will influence me more than the words of my Lord. Homosexuality is a sin. I don't care how loving and caring my brother is, or how many little girls he saves from bad guys, he's still going to burn in hell if he doesn't change his wicked ways. So, save your breath."

"Oh, I get it." Catherine pushed past her shock to defend her friend. "You're one of those judgmental Holy Roller types. Yeah, I never get along well with your kind."

"I can't imagine why."

"Mostly because you say stupid things and I have a very low tolerance for people who say stupid things like 'no matter how many little girls he saves, he's going to burn in hell'." Sighing, Catherine said, "So, you're the reason Nick and Greg have been extra stressed lately. Why can't you just let them be happy?" She stealthily slipped into investigator mode, "After all, they've been together for…how long is it now?"

"I shudder to think how long my brother has been fallin' into bed with that man."

"How do you know they have sex?" CSI Willows casually posited as if she were challenging the woman's theory. "That's a pretty big conclusion to jump to, isn't it?"

"It doesn't take a CSI to figure out the score. I found a used condom in the shower the other night after Greg and Nick had spent quality time locked in the master bedroom together and I saw them snuggled naked in bed the other morning when they forgot to shut the door."

"Oh." _Holy shit!_ "I guess that would be adequate proof then." _Holy shit!_

"Is that a gift basket you're holding?"

"Oh." Catherine handed it over. "Could you leave it on the counter for Nick? Thanks."

"Yes, now goodnight, Ms. Willows."

"Good…" When the door suddenly slammed shut in her face, Catherine turned and hurried for her car. _Holy shit!_

* * *

"Griss!" When Greg saw his boss getting out of his Mercedes, he rushed over. "I need to talk to you about some time off, just a couple of nights." 

"What month?" the CSI Supervisor asked while visualizing the vacation calendar in his head.

"Thursday and Friday of this week actually."

"What? You just had time off when you skipped out of the conference early and you know I can't spare anyone while Nick's out on leave."

"Sara already said she'd come in on Friday on her night off, so really the only day is Thursday and I think I can get Louie from Swing to work a double, because I covered for him a couple of months back. If…"

"No." Grissom started walking for the building. "I was already going to ask Sara to work on Friday because we're backlogged, Greg. You're just going to have fun some other time."

"It's a family emergency."

"Are your parents okay?"

"It's not my…" Greg lowered his voice, "It's Nick. I need to fly to Dallas with him and help him work things out with **his** family. Please, Griss. His sister surprised him with a visit and found out about us. It's been very ugly and I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't critical. There's no way he can go there alone. They're like shotgun toting rednecks and his sister has pamphlets on Gay Rehab Centers. I honestly don't trust them. Please."

"The problem is you can't mark it as a family emergency on your time card." Grissom somberly explained, "Nick isn't part of your family on paper and unlike some places of employment, LVPD doesn't have Domestic Partner Benefits. You can't call it vacation time either, because vacations are suspended when we're short, you know that. We'll hear it from Ecklie. You'd need a doctor's note to…"

"I have an idea." Greg suggested, "My parents are coming to town tomorrow to take Jenni home. Can we just explain to Ecklie that it's critical for me to be a part of the homecoming? It really is a huge deal and I'm going to see her in the morning. If we weren't so strapped at work, I really would have asked to take off for the occasion."

Seeing the desperation in his employee's eyes, Grissom relented, "I'll handle Ecklie. I'll spin the Jenni story as a positive for the lab since you were the one who saved her."

"Thanks, boss!" Greg opened the front door. "I'll catch up with Louie right now and make sure he takes my Thursday."

"You better catch up on your paperwork too!" Grissom shouted at the blur running down the hall.

"Will do!"

* * *

Sitting at the small motel table, Nick opened his lap top and connected to the Internet. While Greg was at work, he would be making the arrangements for their trip to Dallas. It would be the first time he ever stayed at a hotel while visiting his family who had always welcomed him with open arms. 

This trip would be different in so many ways. His mother wouldn't be baking him Toll House cookies while he watched ESPN on the couch with his father. Instead of a happy family reunion, he knew they would spend the time mourning the loss of their son's salvation. Staring at the Southwest Airlines computer screen, he tried to work up the nerve to buy the tickets that would bring him to Dallas and distance him from his family. "What am I gonna to do if they show me the door?" he kept repeating as he watched the cursor blink on the screen. "What am I gonna do?"

* * *

_What the hell am I going to say?_ Catherine asked her reflection. Standing in the lobby Ladies Room, she checked her watch. 5 _am. _Per the new 'anti-burnout' policy, she was on her mandated lunch break._ I've been obsessing over this for hours_. She knew she had to tell Greg about the confrontation with Nick's sister, because he would find out when he saw her and realize she had been working next to him all night without saying she knew. _But how do I say it?!_ She imagined returning to the Layout Room and striking a conversation with her friend, '_You know, a really funny thing happened on the way into work tonight, Greg. I stopped by your place and talked to Nick's sister Eileen. She told me that you were gay and sleeping with Nick. Way to go! There are women all over town who would give a kidney to trade places with you. Could you pass the ALS? Thanks'. _

"Hey." Sara rushed by her co-worker on the way to a stall. "I drank waaaay too much coffee tonight." After closing her door, she unbuckled her belt. "Grissom is sending Warrick and me out to Boulder City Hospital. Some guy drove himself into the ER and I do mean literally. He crashed his car into the ER building because he was bleeding out from a gunshot wound. He died on the table. Warrick's already pulling the truck around back and he told me to tell you that he'll take a raincheck on lunch."

"Okay, thanks."_ This is perfect, now I'll have Greg all to myself. _"You and Warrick have fun out there." _Not that you could have as much fun as I had with him tonight_. "I've got something to take care of ASAP, so I'll catch you later."

When she stepped into the hallway, Catherine tossed her purse on her shoulder and took a steadying a breath. As luck would have it, Greg was heading in her direction. "Sanders!"

"Yeah?"

"Taking your lunch break?" When he nodded, she offered, "Come with me." She dangled her purse. "I want to try that 24 Hour Chinese place across the street. Warrick was supposed to share my 'Buy 1 Get 1 Free' Coupon with me, but Grissom is sending him out with Sara. Wanna fill in for him?"

Greg ran over salivating from the offer. "Hell, yeah, I'm starving and I heard the Egg Rolls over there are extra long and as thick as Bratwurst." He rubbed his belly. "I'm jonesin' for some Jumbo Egg Rolls right now."

Walking out the front door with him, she snickered, "Yeah, but is quantity really more important than quality?"

"You tell me," he joked. "I think you've done enough sampling of the male population to draw a knowledgeable conclusion."

"Did you just call me a slut, Sanders?"

"Ha!" Greg flashed his naughtiest smile. "I was just kidding around with you." _But not really._

"MmmHmm." Once they were outside in the quiet pre-dawn parking lot, Catherine replied, "In my **vast** personal experience, I've come to realize there is no correlation between size and my toes curling. I've been very disappointed by big boys and pleasantly surprised by many anatomically challenged men. It's all about knowing what to do with what you've got." Placing her hand on her friend's shoulder, she smiled, "Your turn, honey."

"My turn to do what?" Greg chuckled.

"To tell me about your experiences with men."

"Uh." He anxiously glanced around the parking lot. "You're funny."

"I stopped by your place on the way in tonight, because I had a relaxation gift basket for Nick." Softening her voice, she explained, "He wasn't home and I got a very interesting welcome from his sister. Something like 'No matter what you say, I won't stop wishing my brother wasn't having sex with Greg in the shower'."

"Oh! Her!" He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, she's several cards short of a deck. I had to use Nick's shower the other night and she got this crazy idea that we were…"

"Gay? Yeah, so did I, when I saw the two of you at the dumpster last night. Grissom asked me to swing by there on the way to my assignment. Nick was feeding you."

"Ha! That. Yeah, we were rehearsing a scene for a play. It's a secret, but we joined this community theater group as part of Nick's relaxation therapy. It's his decompression hobby and…um…yeah, we're like totally gay." He anxiously laughed, "Surprise!"

"Yes, I was very surprised…about Nicky." She sweetly laughed, "You, I always figured you played for both teams."

"And that would be a correct assumption." Gripping his head, the concerned boyfriend whispered, "Nick only went to active status recently and he's very…honestly, he's gonna to die when he finds out that you know. Does Warrick know?"

"He was driving the truck when you were having an orgasm sucking Nick's fingers off, so I'd say he has his suspicions, yes."

"Oh God." Greg could hear Nick's ulcer gurgling already.

"Come on." Catherine slipped her arm around Greg's waist. "Let's talk over Magnum-size Egg Rolls."

"Okay."

"I'm really happy for you guys."

"You are?" he said with surprise.

"Yeah, because now I don't feel bad that neither of you wanted to sleep with me."

"I would have slept with you in a heartbeat when I first started working here," Greg giggled.

"Yeah, I know, I was just joking." Catherine joined in the laughter. "You didn't think I'd have a problem, did you?"

"You never really know how people will react, especially when you haven't been truthful with them, y'know?"

"Aww, I'll always love ya, Greggy. Nicky too."

"Thanks, Cath." He stopped to give her a hug. "We need all the support we can get, because we're flying to Dallas tomorrow to tell his parents and I have a feeling it's going to be hell."

"Want me to come with you and be your character witness? I'm sure a divorced ex-stripper speaking on your behalf would really help your cause."

"Thanks, but I'll spare you the pain and suffering."

"Do you know how many women in this city would kill to be you?" Sensing he needed some stress relief, Catherine ruffled his hair and joked, "The geek scored himself a sexy cowboy. Way to go, Greggy."

"Yeah, my parents are really psyched too. My dad in particular, because now he has someone to watch sports with on Thanksgiving. My mom is a nutjob. She's already planning a Commitment Ceremony for us on the beach in Maui. My parents have a place there."

"Maui, huh? Can I be a bridesmaid?"

"You bet."

"So, all joking aside, your relationship - it's not a casual thing."

"Nope. We're on a bullet train toward Happily Ever After." Greg showed off his bracelet. "I got this instead of an engagement ring. We're getting a dog and buying a house together too."

"A house and a dog. Wow, that is serious." Laughing, she said, "So, my blender really was an engagement present. Congratulations."

As the two CSIs embraced again, Wendy, Mandy and Jacqui stood motionless watching them. They had left the building to grab Chinese food across the street and were returning when they saw Greg and Catherine involved in an intense PDA.

"Looks like Peter Piper found himself a rebound woman to nurse his Skee Ball wounds," Jacqui remarked while Catherine stroked Greg's face. "No more coin shows for you, Mandykins. Don't worry, I'll let you look through the change in the bottom of my purse if you get withdrawals."

"Oh. My. God." Mandy stuffed her hands on her hips and heatedly whispered, "Don't you guys get it! That date was a CSI prank! They probably all got together drinking and concocted the plan. Greg's with Catherine and was never really interested in me. It totally makes sense, because I saw them together in the parking lot as I was pulling away yesterday. They were probably laughing their butts off at my expense!"

As she watched the couple laughing together standing nose to nose, Wendy replied, "It would certainly explain the bizarre patheticness of it all, because that date was too..."

"Greg Sanders!" Mandy stormed toward the bastard. "I'm not amused!"

"What the hell did you do to her?" Catherine asked as she wiped her red lipstick off Greg's cheek.

"I hope you and your CSI cronies had a good laugh at my expense! Ugh! I can't believe you're getting lovey dovey with Catherine 'Look at my Boobs' Willows right here on the night of our date from hell! It was all Brown's idea, wasn't it?! How many times is he going to humiliate me?!"

"Oh shit." Greg held up his hands. "It's not what you think. I wasn't lying to you tonight, not about Catherine or what I mean is I'm not with her and the date was a joke. Um…Catherine was just…"

"Shut up!" Mandy postured in front of the jerk. "If you weren't lying, then prove it. Show us your painful ass rash, asshole. The rash that was sooooo bad you couldn't sit comfortably. I can't believe I felt sorry for you!"

Jacqui whispered to Wendy, "I know we just ate Chinese, but I'm craving popcorn to go with this melodrama."

"Now, Sanders!" Mandy shrieked, "Drop trou!"

"Uh." Greg's cheeks flushed deep red. "Um…"

"Can you give us a minute, thanks?" Catherine yanked her friend away from the angry mob of affection-starved women who were constantly jealous of her sexy figure and good looks. "Ass rash, Greg?" She whispered, "Sweetie, you need to use lots of lube when you have…"

"I know that!" He covered his face. "I was lying about the ass rash to get out of the date, because it was a beard date and…help me."

"Help you how? Do you want me to help you fake an ass rash or…"

"No." Watching the irate women crack their knuckles, he whimpered, "How about you just shoot me?"

* * *

**ANs: **

Don't worry, Catherine won't be putting Greg out of his misery. He'll be around to walk into the Lion's Den (aka his home) in the next chapter and face the Stokes clan.

**Credit is due!** The retainer in the last chapter was included after a reader, **Cherrybomb** asked if Greg had an old retainer to wear on his date. I was instantly in love with the idea LOL. I meant to credit her in the last chapter, but was in such a rush to post in the ten minutes I was home, that I forgot. The retainer got a lot of positive comments, so THANKS for the suggestion! A big THANKS to KJT for editing when she returned home from her great new Oz job.

**An important note** - After each of the last 2 chapters, I received some emails/comments expressing sudden dissatisfaction with the story and/or some of the elements or characters. I really wish I could a story that made everyone happy that included enough of every character and plot, but time is just not letting it happen unfortunately. I **wish **I was being melodramatic, but I'm a wife and mother of 3 young kids (one of whom is Autistic), I work, I volunteer and now I've decided to return to school to get another degree. My time constraints are very real and since time is now a big issue, I've chosen to focus the story on one central plot at a time. Believe me, if I win the lottery this week, I'll be more than happy to hire a cook, a maid and a nanny and kick my feet up and write full time LOL

Thanks for understanding : ) If the story is no longer of interest to you, because there's not enough GSR at the moment, or Nick and Greg are too serious or sad for you to continue reading, I'm not offended in the least and hope you find a story that better suits your tastes : ) To anyone who is upset that I haven't thoughtfully answered your comments in a timely manner like I used to, I want to clarify that it's not because I don't care or don't value them, it's honestly just because I've had to choose between helping my son with his homework or answering email. I absolutely love corresponding with everyone and will resume doing so as soon as I can. Just know that your encouragement is making a difference and keeping me typing - thank you so much!

I hope that addresses the bulk of concerns! Even though I'm busy, writing this story is still fun for me and a nice release after a hectic day, so I plan to continue it. The next chapter will post on the weekend.

**Thanks for reading!**

**Maggs **


	7. Chapter 7 When Worlds Collide Part 2

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 7: When Worlds Collide – Part 2**

While Greg waited for her around the corner, Catherine returned to handle the trio of irate women. "First, and most importantly, Greg is still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so he doesn't need to be approached by an angry mob in a dark parking lot, right?" When she didn't hear anyone protest, she continued, "I'm not with Greg. Not currently, not in the past and not in the future…not even if I'm desperate. Jacqui, you know he's not my type. He's not even from the same universe as my type. I prefer my guys tall, dark and studly."

Jacqui coughed 'Warrick' into her fist.

"Exactly," Catherine snickered, "and do you really think Warrick would turn the other cheek while I tossed some love in Greg's direction?"

"Yeah, I could see Warrick sharing his woman with a needy nerd," Jacqui laughed, "right after hell freezes over."

"Good, now that we have that part cleared up..." Focusing on Mandy, Catherine said, "Greg has serious issues, and I'm not just referring to his ass rash." She struggled to keep a straight face after hearing herself say 'ass rash'. "I'm sure it was blatantly obvious tonight that the guy is a little odd. He's a quirky genius who has his therapist on speed dial…a geek who collects coins, speaks to his mother **way **too often, and thinks it's cool to have a Pet Rock. I was taking him to lunch because I felt sorry for him. When he expressed his gratitude in the parking lot and got a little misty, I hugged him. Then, I wanted to make him laugh, so I started making fun of Hodges. Any questions?"

"Ugh." Mandy hung her head in shame. "Now I feel bad all over again. Not only did I falsely accuse Greg of being a liar, I scared him and made him have a PTSD flashback. God, I'm an idiot."

Catherine chided the woman who had been gossiping about her and her cleavage for years. "Let this be a learning experience for you." She pointed toward Greg. "I think you owe someone an apology."

* * *

"I'm sorry," Jillian Stokes whispered to her son's high school graduation photograph as she sat in his old room. Hearing Linda say that Nicky turned gay because he had a poor relationship with his father had left her feeling horribly guilty. "I bit my tongue so many times. In my heart I knew he was being too hard on you, but I let him punish you and lecture you over and over. You tried your best, I know you did, and that's all that should have mattered. You were never going to be Chuck. I knew that, but your father…" She lifted a crumpled tissue to her eyes again, wiping them quickly. "Your father thought he could change you, like he had seen the Marine Corps change so many irresponsible boys into men, but you weren't a Marine, Nicky, you were my baby, and I should have intervened." Staring into his loving brown eyes, her guilt intensified. "If I had put my foot down and said enough is enough, then maybe you wouldn't be so far off the righteous path today." 

"I still love you, sweetheart." Running her fingertips over her son's cheek, her heart broke. "I'm sad for you and wish you weren't doin' what you're doin'. Like your sisters, I fear your salvation may be in jeopardy, but I still love you." She wept into her tissue. "It's gonna be ugly, Nicky. Your daddy and Chuck saw red when they heard the news and I don't know what they're plannin' to do to snap you out of this phase you're goin' through."

With a shaky hand, she returned the framed photo to the dresser. "I won't stand there quietly and watch you suffer. Not again. I promise. I've let you down so many times. I hired that animal to babysit you." Ever since she had learned about the sexual abuse, she felt like a failure as mother. "Never again."

* * *

"One more time, CSI Stokes!" Mrs. Martin's 5th grade class pleaded as their favorite classroom volunteer stood shaking his head and laughing. 

"Settle down class," Mrs. Martin ordered. "CSI Stokes has been more than generous with his time already. It's 9:15 and we need to get our desks cleared and get our recorders out for Music Class. "On behalf of the students and myself, I want to say thank you, CSI Stokes. Letting the kids partner up, put on gloves and play CSI, taking saliva swabs and fingerprints was a real treat. Wasn't it?"

"Yeah!"

"The Krispy Kreme donuts were really good too!" Joey yelled from the back row.

"That's good to hear, thanks." Clicking open his kit, Nick said, "Y'all need to know how to eat donuts if you're gonna be LVPD one day. You'll have to learn to like coffee too." He chuckled when the kids grimaced at the thought of drinking java. "Yeah, yeah, y'all will be spendin' five bucks on a cup of coffee in a few years time, mark my words."

The teacher waved Cassie forward. "You know the drill." The same child who was often glum and a loner came alive when CSI Stokes came for a visit. "You can help him pack up while we start music class in the back of the room." She knew the orphaned girl cherished every paternal moment with the man she could get.

"Thanks, Mrs. Martin!" The girl rushed over to the man she considered her personal Superman and the closest thing she had to a father. "That was the coolest lesson yet!"

"Ya liked it, huh?" Nick loved watching her meticulously pack his equipment just like he had taught her. "Look at you go. I don't even have to tell you what to do." Leaning in he whispered, "Don't tell your classmates, but you rocked that assignment better than any of 'em. You're a real natural, Cass."

"I'm gonna be the best CSI this city has ever seen. Well, as good as you anyway."

"Nah, I'm sure you'll be way better than me. You're a heck of a lot smarter than I was when I was your age."

Being praised by the one person who counted more than anyone, the girl bubbled over with pride. "I didn't even have to study to get the As on my last report card. My brother never had to study either. My parents said our IQs were off the charts." Her smile instantly disappeared as she thought of her murdered family.

"Hey!" Nick knew to change the subject quickly. "You just reminded me that I still owe you a reward for gettin' straight A's." She had informed him via email two weeks ago that she pulled another set of perfect marks. "Did you pick what you want to do yet? You wanna go to the Mandalay Bay and see the Shark Reef again? I know that's one of your favorites. Or we could…hmm…"

"I have an idea." Stepping closer so he could hear her over the noise traveling from the back of the classroom, the girl said, "I think we should go looking for a wife for you.

Nick froze like a deer in headlights. It wasn't the first time she had brought up the subject, but it was the first time since he had started a life with Greg. "Um…"

"The clock's ticking Daddy-O." She had started calling him that on Parent Career Day so she wouldn't feel like the only kid in her class without a father. Later that day when he told her it would be okay to keep using the term, her heart soared.

His heart always skipped a beat when the kid called him Daddy-O. "Sweetie, why are you so worried…"

"Because time is running out." She broke the news, "Mama Evelyn told me that I only get nine more months with her and then I'm no longer classified as 'special needs'. I'll be sent to a group home and I'll have to stay there until I graduate high school unless someone adopts me. Do you think a group home will be as fun as living with Mama Evelyn or my own family?" She gave him the usual warning. "Don't baby me."

He had to be honest. "No, honey, I don't think it will be as fun as livin' with Mama Evelyn or with one family. I'm sorry. The foster system is a mess and it's real hard on kids."

"Thanks for always being honest with me." The precocious 11 year old smiled at her savior, "Now I'll be honest with you. You're almost forty. It's time to stop playing the field and settle down, Peter Pan." She laughed at his reaction, "I heard that phrase when Mama Evelyn was watching Dr. Phil. I heard this too - if you don't have a wife by the age of fifty, the odds of living happily ever after with a woman are right up there with the chances of getting struck by lightning and winning the lottery. Have you ever been struck by lightning or won the lottery?"

"No."

"See!" She threw her arms up in the air. "Listen to this, the other night I was sitting on the front porch watching a dad in the neighborhood teaching his daughter how to ride a bike and I got this great idea that you could find a woman who is as old as you and could never have kids. Then, when you tell her all about how you saved my life, she'll be like 'We should adopt her because I love kids and always wanted a girl and you love kids too, Nick, and you've said that Cassie is like a daughter to you a bazillion times!" Although he never said those words to her, she always hoped he did when he spoke to other people. "Can't you kind of see that happening if you think about it? Try it. Close your eyes and…"

"Honey…"

"Don't sell yourself short!" The matchmaker whispered, "Sure, you're a little wrinkly and have a few gray hairs."

"I don't have gray hairs," he protested.

"There's one in the back right now." She pointed to the location. "Don't worry, I know 35 year old women think you're cute, because Mrs. Martin is 35 and she totally crushes on you."

"What makes you say that?" he gulped down the lump building in his throat.

"Because she only dresses up for two people - you and the weatherman from Channel 5. The rest of the days, she wears ugly teacher clothes, flat shoes and no lipstick."

Glancing over at Mrs. Martin, Nick caught her checking her makeup. "I wondered if she dressed like that all the time, 'cause none of my teachers ever did."

"Too bad she's married, huh? She's kinda pretty in a plain sort of way, but she's really, really nice. Would someone like her work?"

"She's um…not really my type, sweetie." _As if I don't have enough stress in my life at the moment, the poor kid has to bring all this up again._ It had been at least three months since she last asked him to adopt her and he thought she had dropped it for good.

The determined girl pushed for answers, "Then tell me what you do like, so I can keep my eyes open. There are lots of single moms dropping off kids here all the time. Old or young? White or black? Chinese or Japanese? I don't care what she looks like as long as she's nice, do you? For all I care, you could even marry a boy like Mr. Andrews the Art Teacher, he has a wife named Ed. What about that nice lady you work with, the one with the space between her front teeth? I really like her. Is she single? The red haired CSI woman with the big boobs seems a little high-maintenance, but maybe we could work on her and make her like camping and hot dogs. What do you think?"

"Cassie…" Nick felt his cheeks flush. "This really isn't the time or place to discuss findin' me a spouse and you a home. But I know a lot of the Social Services people from workin' with them, maybe…maybe I could help find someone who wants to foster or…" The disappointment in her eyes sliced broke his heart. "Uh…"

"It's okay. You can say it." Smiling through her pain, she nodded. "I'm tough, just like you. Nothing hurts us, remember?" She bit back her tears for what seemed like the millionth time since her family died. "They can bury us alive with fire ants or slit our throats and toss us into the water to die, but we'll outsmart the bad guys with Bubbilicious and survive every time." What she loved most about their stories was how they both used their favorite gum to outwit the bad guys. She had used hers to leave a trail and Nick had put his in his ears when he shot his gun. "We're indestructible Superheroes, you and me. I haven't saved anyone yet like you have, but I'm gonna, I can feel it." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You'll always be my hero, because if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead. My daddy didn't save me that day, you did. I know my daddy was breaking the law selling drugs in our basement, so not only didn't he save me…his drugs were the reason bad people came to our house in the first place. So, maybe dads are overrated, huh?" Much to her chagrin, a single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye. "Every kid in this class has a dad in their life, but I'm the only one lucky enough to have their very own Superhero." She flicked the tear and fought hard to keep the rest from falling until she could get behind closed doors at home. "I hope you're not mad." The last thing she wanted to do was scare him away. "I promise not to ask you to be my dad ever again."

"Aww, honey, I'm honored, not mad. It's just not a good time for me to be startin' a family. It has nothin' to do with you, I promise. If it was the right time, I'd be beggin' Social Services for you. Do you believe me?"

When she nodded, her tears shook free. "I don't want anyone to see me cry."

"It's okay to cry." Nick caught the drops with his thumbs as he cupped her face. "Superheroes are tough, but even they feel pain sometimes. They all have at least one weakness. Superman had kryptonite. If he got anywhere near the stuff, he became weak. When he fell in love with Lois Lane, he was weaker still, because the bad guys found out that he'd do anything to save her."

"I miss my family."

"I know you do, Sweetie." He fought the urge to hug her since it would look odd in front of her classmates. "Losin' family is the worst thing that can happen to a person." Suddenly on the brink of tears himself, he whispered, "I'm so sorry that it happened to you."

After a deep breath, she forced herself to regroup and answer Nick's original question, "The Shark Reef will be great. Can you call Mama Evelyn and ask if we can go later?"

Remembering the plane tickets he had for that afternoon, Nick replied, "Today would be great, honey. I'll step outside to call Evelyn on my cell right now."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you for givin' me an excuse to see the sharks and eat lots of ice cream." After a wink and the stealthy passing of a clump of tissues, Nick walked out of the classroom smiling. If Cassie could be that tough, so could he. There would be no running to the ranch with his tail between his legs, begging them not to shun him. There was plenty of unconditional love in his life, so if his family couldn't deal with the news, so be it. He would call his mother later and tell her exactly what had been going on with Eileen. He'd expect the worst and hope for the best. But no matter what happened, he knew Greg, Jan, Dave, and Cassie would still love him afterwards. "Hey, Evelyn, it's Nick…"

* * *

"Do you think I bought too much for Nicky?" Jan asked when she thought of the full shopping bag of new clothes for her future son-in-law. Riding in the car since five that morning, she was thrilled they were only five minutes from the townhouse. 

"He's not used to being spoiled, honey." Dave said, "According to Greg, the Stokes kids had to work for everything they got, even their clothing. Whether it be doing chores at home when they were little, or by getting a job when they were old enough to work, they literally earned the clothes on their backs."

Jan sang at the top of her lungs, "Psychos!" She shook her head. "I** really** don't want those Type-A Totalitarians around my Cambodian grandchildren. They'll stifle little Sokhanya's creativity and dictate her life to her. She'll know what her ancestors felt like living under the Khmer Rouge."

"You truly are adorable when you worry about the grandchildren you don't have yet." Dave patted her hand. "But I think you're being a little harsh comparing Mr. and Mrs. Stokes to a dictatorship responsible for killing over 2 million people and whose motto was 'To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss'".

* * *

While the women ducked into the McCarran airport Ladies Room, Chuck Stokes said to his father, "We never shoulda brought 'em with us. That boy needs the sense knocked into him and Mama's too damn soft when it comes to her baby. On our own, we could have him admittin' he screwed up in minutes." 

"Don't worry, he'll be eatin' dinner at that Love in Action Rehab Center in Memphis tonight."

"I still can't believe you agreed to pay the bill for his treatment. $3,500 for 28 days or $7,000 for three months? That's a shitload of cash. " The eldest son rolled his eyes. "You worked hard too hard for your money to have it wasted on gettin' Nicky to find Jesus and stop bangin' guys."

"Let's hope he's the one doin' the bangin," Bill shuddered to think of the other option. "And what I agreed to was footin' the expenses up front just to get his ass there, but he'll be payin' me every penny back," he confirmed while checking his watch for the second time in two minutes. It was bad enough that their flight had been delayed, but now they were wasting more time. At least Eileen had come to pick them up, so they wouldn't have to fuss with a rental car and directions. "Your mother is probably cryin' again. This is like a repeat of that coffin nightmare. She's not going to sleep for a month again. God damn that boy for causin' her more grief."

"We should have seen the writin' on the wall when he moved to Vegas. How many times did I say he must be hidin' somethin' out here?" The high-powered attorney with his eyes on a political career in Washington, stuffed his hands on his hips and huffed, "If this conversion therapy shit doesn't work out, we can't have him hangin' around us anymore. Unless I become a Dem, I'll never get to the Senate with my queer brother in the family photo. All my support comes from Republican conservatives who know they can bank on the righteousness of the Stokes name. You know as well as I do that you lose their respect when you act like the rules don't apply to you and your family. Look at all the grief Cheney's takin' over his rug munchin' daughter havin' a baby. Did you see the shit he took during that Blitzer interview? That'll be how it is every time I speak out on anti-marriage issues, Dad. Reporters will throw my fag brother in my face and if I denounce him, I'll appear cold and lose the swing vote, but if I support him, I'll be labeled a hypocrite and lose the conservatives. It's a god damn no win situation and I will tear Nicky in two if he ruins my chances at a political career after I've been workin' my ass off to get to Washington since I was president of my 7th grade class!"

"Believe me, I understand where you're comin' from, son." Bill wore his disgust like a neon sign. "Think of all the locker rooms that boy has been in with other guys and what people would say if they knew he had been checkin' out their asses all this time. I'll hear about that from every colleague and friend. Look at what happened to my sister's family thanks to that pillow biter son of hers

Chuck grew ill as a new realization hit him. "Nicky used to babysit cousin Roy, remember? You and Mama made him babysit in exchange for al the help your sister gave her with the twins. What if Roy's queerness comes from all that time he spent with Nicky?"

"Roy was 3 at the time, Chuck."

"I have small children, Dad, they're constantly mimicking my behavior."

Judge Stokes could already hear his sister screaming at him. "All the more reason this situation must be kept quiet and resolve quickly. If your aunt puts that together, we'll never hear the end of it."

* * *

"I've been hearing about your future children for the last four hours," Dave teased his son as he hugged him tight. Standing in the living room of the townhouse, he announced, "I had this crazy idea when your mother was driving me crazy on the ride here." 

"I can hear you!" Jan reminded her man. "There's only an island separating the two rooms, not a wall."

Ignoring her, Dave continued, "So, when your mother was driving me insane with grandchild talk, I had this nutty idea to buy this townhouse from Nick. That way we'd have a place to stay when we came to visit you guys, especially after Lillianka and Sovonna arrive from Cambodia. It will be a good tax write-off and I'll save a fortune in hotel bills."

"Seriously?" Greg asked.

"Your mother loves the master suite here. She says it has a great Jacuzzi tub."

"Yeah, that bathroom is a sex addict's paradise, so you'll love it, Dad. The medicine cabinet has extra wide shelves, which will be handy for that jumbo bottle of Levitra you never leave home without."

"You little shit." Dave yanked his boy close for a crushing hug.

"Don't break the geek!" Greg laughed, "The cowboy will come after you with one of his red neck shotguns if you hurt me."

"He's right!" Nick announced from the entryway as he set down his kit and tossed his jacket. "Hey, family." He opened his arms. "I'm home."

"Nicky!" Since Jan was the closest to the front door, she was the first to dispense some affection. "Just a quick kiss and then it's back to flipping bacon for me. Mmm!" She smooched his cheek. "It's so good to see you again and so soon." As promised, she darted back into the kitchen waving her bacon tongs the whole way. "I bought you some gifts. I'll get them after breakfast."

"Gifts?"

"Morning, Nick." Dave stayed back, so he didn't get in his son's way. "Yes, Jan likes to buy gifts, especially clothes, you'll get used to it."

"Really? Okay." When the hyper puppy in his life came running to greet him, Nick's smile lit the room. "Miss me, G?"

"Hell, yes!" Greg consumed his significant other with a bear hug. "I expected you to look like shit though, what happened?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Dave confessed.

Greg informed his partner, "I told my parents what was going on with your sister, I hope that's okay. They wanted us to join them for dinner and I had to explain why we were bolting."

"Yeah, of course it's okay." With Greg's hand in his, Nick headed for the couch. "Let's sit and I'll tell y'all about my morning and why I'm doin' better. You too, Dave, because I want your opinion."

Greg waited for Nick to take a seat in his usual spot and then he dropped onto the couch and draped his legs over his lover's.

"I bet I can make your mother burn the bacon," Dave joked as he stood in front of the guys. "Honey! Greg is sitting with his legs over Nick's. It's really adorable."

"Ooh! Where's my camera?!" Jan rushed from the kitchen looking for her purse. "Look how cute!"

"What about the bacon, honey?" Dave winked at the guys. "You don't want to burn down the house we don't own yet, do you?"

"Oh, shoot!" the conflicted mother tossed her Olympus Stylus at her husband and raced back to the kitchen. "Take a few, honey."

Dave lifted the camera and joked, "Say 'queer', boys."

"Queeeeeeeer," they laughed while posing in a sweet embrace.

"Now tell them to kiss!" Jan directed from the kitchen.

"I dare you to kiss each other in front of me." The jokester father knew they wouldn't have the nerve. "I…oh." Much to his surprise, they boys called his bluff and engaged in a tender lip lock right before his eyes. "Okay, I'm still getting used to the whole man love thing, so..."

"David!" When Jan peered up from her bacon, she scolded, "Why aren't you taking pictures of their first kiss in front of you?!"

"Because I'm not watching, honey."

"Have you forgotten about my Scrapbook of Firsts?"

"The things we do for love." Dave snapped a photo just before the boys came up for air. "Okay, that really wasn't too bad. It was tender and sweet in an 'oh God I'm watching guys kiss and one of them is my son' sort of way."

"This time we'll add some tongue," Greg joked while pulling Nick on top of him.

"Like hell we will," Nick protested as his partner tried to tickle him into submission. "Stop it, ya little pervert! Not in front of your parents." He tackled the smart ass to the cushions and straddled him. "Honey, you're gonna lose the wrestling match every time."

"Can't…breathe." Greg bulged his eyes and gulped for air. "Mommy…"

"Boy love is so aggressive, isn't it, Dave?" Jan watched the loving wrestling match from the kitchen. "And yet sweet in its own way." She sighed, "I wish Queer as Folk was still on TV. I really miss watching Brian and Justin fool around."

Ignoring his wacky wife, the supportive, yet maxed-out father strolled into the kitchen discussing anything but man love. "Wow, that bacon smells great. I wonder if we're going to get any rain today? I'm so glad we didn't have any traffic on the way into the city." Just as he reached the island, the front door opened and five people rushed into the townhouse. "Who the hell are you?!" he yelled as the crowd filed into the living room like they owned the place.

"Who are you?!" Eileen snapped, not recognizing the man. "Is that bacon I smell?"

When she saw her son perched on top of another man's hips, Jillian shrieked and covered her eyes. "He really is gay!"

Linda pointed at the older man and yelled, "Heaven help us, it's a threesome!"

While the Stokes women held hands and prayed, the men turned their backs and cursed like sailors.

"It's a gay-bashing home invasion!" Jan warned after turning off the stove and grabbing a spatula. "I'll protect you!"

Startled and shocked, Nick and Greg had leapt off the couch and then froze in their tracks

Her heart pounding in her chest, Jan instinctually stepped in front of her boys. "I won't let you hurt them!" she told the tall aggressive-looking man leading the pack, who she thought had the body of a linebacker, the face of a movie star and was surprisingly well dressed for a criminal. "You'll have to kill me first!" Standing in front of the men with her arms spread wide, she whispered over her shoulder, "Where's your shotgun, Nicky?!"

"They're not strangers, Mom." Greg glanced over at his partner and said in disgust, "Your sister lied to us and sold you out."

"Sister?" Jan shouted over the yelling. "They're your family, Nicky?"

"Excuse me!" Being a calm, observant man, Dave had noticed the family resemblance immediately. "Everyone!" He whistled to get their attention. "Will you please stop yelling before the neighbors call the police?!" When the angry mob quieted, he introduced himself, "I'm Nick's partner's father, Dave Sanders."

"Partner. Pfft." Chuck Stokes, the designated speaker for the family, informed the man, "Not to be rude, but we're not here to make friends. We're here to speak with Nicky in private."

Stunned to see his parents, his brother, and his twin sisters in the room, Nick mindlessly fixed his mussed hair and desperately tried to comprehend what was happening.

"This really is an intervention." Greg snapped to anger. "I can't believe you're doing this to him. It's 2007, people! Do you still hunt witches too? Nick's healthy, happy and not hurting anyone, so why can't you let him live in peace? We're not causing you any grief and we're not hurting anyone."

"Shut up, candy ass." Chuck Stokes glared at the geek wearing bowling shoes and a stupid t-shirt. "You're a fag enabler and not a member of our family, so your opinion is worthless to us."

"Hey!" Jan gave the bully a hard shove. "You will not talk to my son that way, especially under his own roof. How dare you barge into his home and insult him. Yes, my son is gay and there's nothing wrong with him. I'm proud to be his mother as a matter of fact."

Eileen nodded at her parents. "See, I told you Greg was a Mama's boy who was encouraged to be a homosexual."

"I didn't make my son gay," Jan chortled. "Where did you get that dumbass idea?"

"From your son," Eileen informed the woman, "he said you tied him to your apron strings and forced him to learn how to cook and do other effeminate things. You even polished his toe nails as a little boy, am I right?"

"She didn't force me to do anything," Greg huffed. "I was cracking a joke about the apron strings. I love cooking. If I wasn't a chemist, I'd probably be a chef. And I liked the smell of the nail polish, that's why I asked her to polish my toes whenever she had the polish out. This is ridiculous. You've interacted with me for two hours total, you don't know me or my family. How dare you dirty up my relationship with my mother."

"Thank you, sweetie." Jan pecked her son's cheek. "You're a boy who loves his mother and enjoys making soufflé, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Soufflé?" Linda and Eileen exchanged all-knowing nods, because if ever there was a food that screamed 'Gay Man', it was soufflé.

The intensity of his father's glare making him shake, Nick subconsciously inched behind Greg for protection.

"Don't feel guilty, Mama," Linda consoled her teary-eyed mother, "Nicky's problems stem from having a distant relationship with Daddy, not you."

"Enough with that BS already," Chuck droned, tired of hearing his sister's psycho-babble. "You are **not **gonna blame our father for Nicky turnin' queer. He worked hard to put a roof over our heads, provided for our every need and saw that we received the best education. He gave all seven of us kids **the same** solid foundation and opportunities and six out of seven of us managed to get graduate degrees, get married and have children. Nicky has **always** been the black sheep of the family and for good reason. He has a track record of makin' bad choices, doin' the wrong things and embarassin' the hell out of the rest of us, so I won't stand here and listen to you blame our father for him **choosing** to get naked with guys. Daddy didn't tell me he loved me every ten minutes and I think the last time I got a hug from him I was wearing pajamas with feet and yet** I** never **chose** to whip out my pecker and stick in a man's ass. That is what you're doin', right? Because I'll friggin vomit if you say you're bitin' a pillow for the Gay Gourmet over here."

"Charles William Stokes!" Jillian grabbed her eldest son by the ear lobe. "You're in mixed company and therefore you will watch your language! If you don't, you'll be gettin'a slap across the face from me, are we clear?"

Dave was silently grateful for the smackdown, because it was still very difficult to think of Greg on the receiving end in bed.

"Yes, ma'am," Chuck contritely replied while his mother continued pinching his ear. "I'm sorry."

Jillian released her grip. "Now apologize to Mrs. Sanders."

"My apologies for the vulgarity, ma'am. Now please allow me to respectfully cut to the chase." The plan was for the politician to do the talking while the judge gave his intimidating 'you better straighten up and fly right' stare. "Nicky, we're upset, confused and terribly worried about you, but we don't hate you. We're your family and just like when you were kidnapped, we all dropped everything to fly out here for you. Nancy was supposed to be here with us, but somethin' happened with Skye and she had to stay back. Marcia's too pregnant to fly and we didn't hear back from Gwen before it was time to leave, or they would be here too." Placing his hand over his heart, he said, "We absolutely don't approve of what you're doin', but we will follow the Lord's advice and hate the sin and not the sinner."

Linda and Eileen joined hands and bowed their heads to pray for their brother to see the light.

"We want to help you," Chuck assured in his most convincing attorney voice. "We've all talked and debated our own opinions before comin' to see you, but I think it's obvious that we're not in agreement about the cause of your problems. We need your input, Nicky, but I don't want the women to be offended by the discussion of homosexuality, so I think it would be best for all involved if I spoke to you alone to get your side of the story." He unfurled his sunniest smile. "Come on, Nicky, let's go for a walk and talk things over, man to man, brother to brother."

"Over my dead body," Greg answered on behalf of his partner. "He's not going anywhere alone with you people, especially you and your father. I know what you two used to do to him when you went camping under the guise of 'making a man out of him'. Leaving a fourteen year old boy alone in the bear-infested woods overnight with only a flashlight, a book of matches and a shotgun? I can totally see you tossing him into a van against his will and driving him to the Gay Rehab place Eileen was raving about." When he realized Nick was hiding behind him, Greg's heart broke. "I won't let you hurt him physically or mentally."

"You really did that?" Jillian stared in horror at her husband. "You left him alone in the woods when he was fourteen?"

"Yes, I did the same thing to Chuck," Bill answered without remorse. "And my daddy did the same thing with me. When I went off to serve my country at eighteen, I was damn grateful that my father had toughened me up. I didn't want my boys to be scared of their own shadows like some of the coddled young men who came to boot camp."

Dave felt compelled to step into the fray. "Did you really come here to force Nick from his home and send him to rehab? You do realize that he's not fourteen and if you hold him against his will, it will be kidnapping."

Judge Stokes resented the accusation, "I sit on the Supreme Court of Texas, Mr. Sanders, and I would never be party to an illegal activity. All we want to do is speak to Nicholas alone, without the liberal influence of you pro-homosexual people. I know indulgent parents when I see them. You'd probably do anything to keep your son's boyfriend pacified, isn't that right? From what I've seen and heard, I think you are the ones doin' the kidnappin'. Eileen told me that you've compensated my son very well recently - fancy dinners, luxury boat vacations and future trips to your Maui home. All he has to do for you is keep your spoiled little boy happy, isn't that right?"

"Stop!" Much to everyone's surprise, Nick stepped in front of his father and confronted him, "The only thing Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are guilty of is welcoming me into their lives with open arms and treating me like a son. I can't believe you're insinuatin' I'm a gigolo who is only with Greg because his parents are compensatin' me. Is that what really think is goin' on here or did you say that for shock value?"

The disappointed father and legal expert retorted, "I'm graspin' for straws, Nicholas, because I can't comprehend why you'd turn your back on the Lord and climb into bed with a man. What you're doin' goes against **everything** you were taught at home and in church." His disgust grew a little more every second. "You have turned your back on God and your family to live in sin in Sin City. You'll have to forgive me for makin' incorrect assumptions, but you've kept your deviant lifestyle a secret, so don't have much to go on."

"Fair enough," Nick stated in a shaky voice as he readied to officially come out to his family. "I'll clear everything up right now. I was born gay, I will die gay, and in the years I have left, I intend to live openly as a gay man with my partner, Greg. I'm not leavin' my home to go to Gay Rehab, because I'm not broken and there's nothin' to fix. Yes, you raised me just as well as everyone else and me bein' gay has nothin' to do with you or Mama. I'm gay because that's what I'm hardwired to be. I tried to fight nature for years, I assure you. I slept with hundreds of women, but it never felt right. Life with Greg, on the other hand, feels perfect and I'm finally content." Stepping back, he spoke to the group as a whole, "I don't want or expect any of you to change your religious beliefs. I'm not askin' y'all to change for me one bit for me. And because I know you're very uncomfortable with homosexuality, I'll never flaunt my lifestyle in front of you. I'm not sure what Eileen told the rest of you, but Greg and I were **not** puttin' on a show for her. What Greg and I do behind closed doors isn't anyone's business. Everything that upset Eileen occurred when she was snoopin' or eavesdroppin'."

Just as Eileen was about to protest, she saw Greg ready to bust her as a liar. "I was snoopin' in the name of love!" To upset her mother and get Nick to feel bad, she said, "I snooped to see if they had condoms, because I don't want my baby brother gettin' sick. I found plenty, includin' a used one in the shower. They did it on the sly while I was makin' them chili for dinner. Nice, huh?"

Chuck grimaced. "Spare us the gruesome details, sis."

"I for one am proud of them," Jan responded while patting Greg on the back. "Thank you for practicing safe sex, honey."

"Always have, always will," Greg assured her.

"Safe sex?" Linda glared at the crazy woman sharing her airspace. "They are vile and disgustin' men havin' unnatural, filthy sex, which means they're on the express train to the eternal hellfire; it's anything but safe, ma'am."

Nick laughed at the hypocrisy, "When I was havin' that same type of sex with women whose last names I didn't even know, Dad and Chuck gave me a cigar, a glass of scotch, and patted me on the back. Now here I am in a committed relationship, buyin' a house with a picket fence to live happily ever after, but I'm vile and disgusting. You guys have it backwards, I assure you. My vile and disgusting days are in the past." Gaining strength, Nick's voice stopped shaking, "Mama, I don't expect you to ever fluff a bed for Greg and me at the ranch, but I'd like it if we could stay at a hotel and visit every now and then. I'll send everyone invitations to our commitment ceremony and it would mean a lot if you would attend, but I'll understand if y'all don't show up wearin' smiles and bearin' gifts."

Chuck answered for everyone, "If you think we're bringin' our children to some mock marriage and makin' them watch their beloved Uncle Nicky kiss a guy on the lips, you're out of your frickin' mind, Bro."

"Amen," Linda said, "If we brought our kids, it would be like tellin' them it's okay to be queer. The boys in particular look up to you, Nicky, and now we're in a bind as to what to tell them. Only an incredibly selfish man would do this to us."

Although he was steaming, Nick calmly said, "All I'm gonna ask is that you don't insult me, my partner or his generous parents who have shown me nothin' but kindness since the moment I met them, especially when you're in my home. I think it's a reasonable request, because I know for a fact that respectin' one another in spite of differences is the Christian thing to do."

Although Greg was dying to throw his arms around his partner in a show of pride and support, he refrained and simply whispered, "Nicely done."

"Thanks, G." With a ton of weight off his shoulders, Nick took a calming breath and waited for his family's reaction.

"Honey…" Jillian rushed forward sobbing.

"Here we go," Chuck stuffed his hands on his hips. "Who didn't see this comin'?"

"I still love you, sweetheart," Jillian sobbed, "but I'm so scared for you - mind, body and soul. I don't want you to get AIDS and die on me."

"I'm fine, Mama, I swear. Greg and I have to get HIV and Hepatitis tests every six months because we deal with blood and bodily fluids every day on the job. I'm as healthy as an ox, I promise." Closing his eyes, Nick held his mother tight. "I love you too. I'm sorry you were blindsided. Eileen promised us that she'd let me tell you in person and I have reservations on a flight to Dallas leavin' this afternoon."

Chuck's blood boiled as he watched his mother comfort his queer brother, "Nicky makes Mama cry, Nicky says he's sorry with teary eyes and promises to try harder next time, Mama feels sorry for her baby boy who was born premature and has always been sooooo special, Nicky is forgiven." He laughed at the spectacle. "Nothin' changes. Only Nicky could get a free pass to bang boys. Bravo, Bro! There's an Oscar with your name on it somewhere."

Off in the corner of the room, Jan whispered to her husband, "He's jealous that Nicky's Mama's baby boy."

"Yeah," Dave observed the dynamic. "He's the big brother who had to be tough. He probably resents that Nick could get affection and get away with it."

Chuck snipped, "So what the hell are we doin' here? Are we just gonna say 'good luck bein' queer, Nicky' and go home? I wouldn't have left the office if I knew we would be throwin' in the towel ten minutes into the intervention."

"I'm not givin' up just yet." Judge Stokes appealed to his son's love for his mother, "Nicholas, I heard what you said, but don't you think you should at least **try** to get some help? How do you know you can't change if you've never tried? For your mother's sake, I think you should. She's not slept a wink since hearin' the news. You're turnin' your back on the Lord and givin' up eternal salvation. I think that's a pretty steep price in return for temporary pleasure and sexual gratification. This place Eileen mentioned, it's a real nice group home. Their success rate is nearly 90 percent."

Releasing his mother, Nick spoke to the points, "I'm already in therapy, Dad. I've reviewed all that stuff with my Psychiatrist and he's in agreement, it's propaganda. The American Psychiatric Association does not support conversion therapy. There are case studies that show it's damaging and has led to a staggering number of suicides."

Chuck's irritation growing, he said, "Livin' as a fag is worse than bein' dead in my book. I say take your chances that you'll see the light without offin' yourself in the process."

Jan couldn't let the comment slide, "You'd rather have your brother dead than alive and gay?"

"That's not what I said," the skilled politician replied. "I won't let you put words in my mouth and get away with it, Mrs. Sanders."

"I can't believe you'd even joke about him dying," Jan said with tears in her eyes, "you almost lost him when he was buried in that coffin."

"Yeah, well, my brother has almost died on several occasions, ma'am, so I'm a little desensitized, not to mention fed up, because every single situation resulted because he wasn't payin' attention." Chuck rolled his eyes at Nick, "Like the time you forgot to look both ways before crossin' the street at the age of** 12**."

"I did look both ways," Nick replied, ready to unload another secret. "I looked both ways, saw the truck comin' and stepped into the street." When he heard his mother and Jan gasp, he said, "It wasn't an accident."

"My God." Jillian stared at him in disbelief. "Are you…are you tellin' us you were tryin' to kill yourself that day?"

Nick nodded and stepped back to lean on Greg. "I'm sorry, Mama."

"Suicide is a sin," Eileen scolded her brother. "It's the ultimate act of selfishness."

Jillian snarled at her daughter, "Eileen! You'll hush up right now!" A fresh batch of tears streamed down the heartbroken mother's face. "Why, Nicky? Why?"

Greg placed his hand on his partner's shoulder to let him know he was there.

"Uh..." Nick took a deep breath and began telling the dark secret he had already shared with Dr. Henry the day before, "Once puberty hit I started havin' thoughts about boys and eventually I started to actively fantasize. I'd go to the stable for privacy and one afternoon I was out there with one of Gwen's teen magazines full of cute boys when I heard Chuck and his friends run in. They were seniors in high school at the time and they ruled the school if you remember. They were ruthless and that day they had just beaten the hell out of Reggie Healy for being a faggot."

"What?!" Chuck pretended not to know what he was talking about. "You're crazy. I never touched that freak in my life." _Son of a bitch! I really thought that was goin' to the grave. I can't believe he's known all this time._

"You didn't know I saw you, but I did. Y'all came to the stable to clean up. You had blood spatter on your shirts and Rob Moses was scared he was gonna get caught and lose his college baseball scholarship." As the vivid memory replayed in his mind, Nick's voice cracked, "I heard everything. I heard you, Chuck. Your exact words were 'we won't get in trouble even if we get caught, because everyone hates queers, even God. You said no one would care even if Reggie died and went to hell. You told the guys about some case where guys beat a homosexual teen to death for lookin' at their asses while gettin' dressed in a locker room. You were laughin' as you told him that the jury didn't convict a single one of them, because the queer got what he deserved, that even the guy's parents thanked the killers, because their disgusting son had been making them sick for years."

Chuck shook his head, "Don't you dare blame me for you walkin' in front of a truck."

Bill Stokes was ready to jump to his eldest son's defense if Nick did.

"I'm not, not at all, I did the walkin'." His eyes welling, Nick told his brother, "It's not a secret that I worshipped you growin' up, Bro. In those early years, you were **never **wrong in my mind." He caught the first tear as it fell. "So, when you said those things, I believed you 110 percent. I ran from that stable believin' I would be doin' God, the world and my family a huge favor." He drew in a choppy breath, "I stepped out in front of a huge truck, but only ended up with a broken leg and a bunch of gashes." He smiled through his tears and paraphrased Sara's words to him, "Clearly, it wasn't my day to die." He shrugged. "Somehow, even though I'm gay, God keeps comin' to my rescue. Imagine that."

"Amen," Jan breathed out, as she walked forward to give Nick the hug she knew her son wished he could. "And I for one am** very** glad you're still here." In true Jan Sanders fashion, she sobbed while joking, "And I'm not just saying that because you're the best damn gigolo I've ever paid to love my son."

In that moment, Greg's appreciation of his quirky mother grew tenfold. "Jan, you're definitely going into the super-deluxe nursing home when the time comes. No bed sores for my mommy. It'll be BINGO and Ben and Jerry's ice cream every night and twice on Sunday."

Dave, like Jillian, was still too blown away by Nick's confession to move or speak.

Jan wiped her tears and warned Judge Stokes, "If you don't want him anymore, we'll adopt him. I endured six miscarriages and I'm not picky in the least." Continuing to use laughter as medicine, she joked, "You have children to choose from, but for Dave and me, it's the gay kid or nothing, so we're keeping him."

"Don't forget about Jenni," Dave reminded his wife as he snuggled her into his chest.

Jan explained to the remarkably quiet Stokes family, "We're in town because we're adopting a 14 year old orphaned girl that Greg rescued on the job." Her grin expanding, she said, "In a year or two, our family will expand further when Nick and Greg become daddies and I'll welcome any grandchild with open arms."

"Oh, hell no." Chuck grumbled, "Forgive me for interruptin' this very special episode of Days of Our Gay Sons Lives, but things are surreal enough and now you're tellin' me I'm gonna play uncle to a kid with two daddies?"

Greg's ire returned with a vengeance. "It's just been established that you assaulted an innocent kid and laughed about it. So, pardon me if I have a hard time believing that you're better Daddy material than Nick, who saves people on a regular basis. You should see him with Cassie McBride, he's a natural."

With all the drama going on, Nick had forgotten his plans. "I'm takin' her to the Shark Reef today as a matter of fact. How long are you plannin' on stayin, Mama? I'd really like you to meet her, she's the sweetest little girl."

"We're not stayin'," Judge Stokes curtly answered. "We came here hopin' to get you help, but you've made it clear that you don't want it, so we're done here. I'll save you some postage too, Nicholas, we won't be comin' to your commitment ceremony."

"I never said that!" Jillian shot a glare at her husband.

"How the hell can you be anti-gay marriage and go to your son's ceremony, Jilly? What are you going to tell your Preserve the Family political action group, hmm? You sit on the damn Board of Directors!" The Judge who always saw in black and white, laughed at the hypocrisy. "You can't say marriage is only for a man and a woman except your little Nicky can marry a boy if he wants to…at least not without soundin' like the biggest hypocrite in Texas."

"Ha!" Jan couldn't remember the last time she heard something that funny. "She'll be in good company with Bush, Cheney and all their double-talking cronies."

"For God's sake, Jan," Dave warned his wife, "the last thing we need right now is a political debate."

"What's there to debate?" She snarked, "Bush has run the country into the ground. Debate over!"

"The Stokes Family is leaving!" Chuck announced as he marched for the door with his father two steps ahead of him. He hoped rejection would help Nick see the light, since talking sense hadn't helped in the least.

"Was it something I said?!" Jan yelled after him.

"Let's go." Chuck motioned for his sisters to hustle it up. "I'm sure the California liberals are anxious to get back to their pot-smoking and nude sunbathin'."

Jan shouted, "Yes, but you left out 'having wild sex in their hot tub!" Not that they didn't partake in the pleasure from time to time.

Chuck ignored the shrew, "Have fun bein' queer, Nicky! We'll miss you in the afterlife! Maybe hell won't be so bad for ya, since you're used to the sweltering Vegas heat."

In silence, Nick watched his family members turn their backs, but when his mother got to the door and said, 'I'm just gettin' my suitcase, honey. I'll be right back. We're gonna talk some more and decide how we'll handle things', he choked up. "Thank you." One of them still loving him was better than none, which is what he had expected.

"We'll work it out," she assured before stepping outside.

"See that!" Greg jumped for joy. "Your mom's not turning her back. I told you she wouldn't, didn't I?"

"Yeah." Nick snatched a hug while he had the chance. "Holy shit! I feel ten feet taller after gettin' all that off my shoulders!" The ring of his cell phone interrupted his celebration. "It's my sister Gwen." He flipped open his phone. "Hello, Dolly."

"Dolly?" Greg queried.

"It's a joke name from Gwen**dol**yn and because she hated playin' Barbies," Nick explained with his hand over the phone. "Hang on a sec." He covered the phone again, "Would you mind if…"

"No problem," Greg smiled. "Take all the time you need, we'll be in my room."

"I'll be in the kitchen," Jan corrected. "I have a brunch to salvage."

"I'm back, Gwen."

"Don't get in the car with Chuck!" she screamed into the phone. "They're comin' to see you and take you to Gay Rehab! They didn't tell me on purpose, because they were afraid I'd take your side and tip you off, which I would have! I found out from Nancy, because she's havin' a nervous breakdown over Skye and she let it slip. Don't you** dare** believe them if they tell you I don't love you. Do you hear me?! I'm spittin' nails over here. I swear I'm gonna kick that pompous ass of a brother of ours square in the nuts when I see him. I'm gonna campaign against him when he hits the trail again!"

"So, um…Nance told you about me?"

After a quick breath, she said, "To be real honest, I kinda knew you might be gay, but was too scared I'd offend you if I asked and was wrong."

"What made you think I was gay?" the surprised brother asked, always believing he had hidden it well.

"You kept stealin' my Tiger Beat magazines and wrinklin' up the boy pages."

He covered his face. "So, we're okay?"

"Are you kiddin'? Eight months ago you handed me your life savings so I could check into Drug Rehab and get out of debt…and you've kept my secret just like you promised. You did all that without a second of hesitation and my mess was my fault. I'll admit that I'm a little freaked out now that I know it's true, but you bein' gay is nothin' you can control, so I'm sure as hell not gonna be pickin' up any stones." Sniffling, she said, "I love you, Nicky. It may be just the two of us by the end of the day, but at least we have each other. Although I think there's a good chance Nancy might not hassle you. She just found out that her perfect daughter, Skye, is seventeen and preggers courtesy of the Pastor's eighteen year old son. We could really use a CSI down here, because the entire congregation is tryin' to figure out how a pregnancy coulda happened because the kids were wearin'purity rings. I told them condoms would have probably worked better at preventin' a pregnancy, you can imagine how much they loved that answer. They weren't allowed to mention contraception in Health Class at that pricy private Christian school the kids go to. Honestly, it's not funny at all, because the girl's life is a mess, but you know Nancy and her holier than thou attitude, so I really can't resist takin' a few private jabs. Does that make me a bitch? Don't answer that."

Nick stood in front of the photo he had of her sitting on the bookcase. "Mama's gonna be a wreck when she finds out about her first grandchild being pregnant. I'm assumin' she's havin' the baby, right?"

"The shotgun went off at ten-fifteen. You'll be gettin' a weddin' invite. It's gonna say 'Nicholas Stokes and Guest', not 'straight guest' so please tell me you'll come and bring your partner. I think every shotgun wedding with a pregnant bride wearin' white needs to have a token gay couple, don't you?"

"I love you, sis." He touched the photo as she touched his heart. "Yeah, we'll do our best to make it down there."

"So this Greg, he's the cute one with the floppy hair, right?"

"Yeah."

"I remember meetin' him when you were in the hospital. He was clutchin' a bag of Skittles and bouncin' all over the waiting room."

"Yeah, that was definitely Greg."

"He's cute, I'd do him if I was single. We have the same taste in men."

Nick released his residual tension in a belly laugh.

"You're the top, right?"

Nick blushed, "I'm hangin' up now. Mama just walked through the door crying. I'll call you later, sis."

"I'll be here explaining how babies are made to the Christian masses."

"Love you," he chuckled, "bye."

"Skye's pregnant!" Jillian cried out to her son. "Your father had a message on his cell." With four members of her family choosing to walk away from Nick, the troubled mother, despondently said, "This whole family is fallin' apart. Where did I go wrong?"

"Oh, please, it's never really the mother's fault," Jan announced from the kitchen. "Pull up a bar stool, Jilly!" The PFLAG warrior slapped a napkin on the counter. "I'll make you a mimosa and we'll talk woman to woman, mother to mother. By the time I'm through with you, you'll be tie-dying a rainbow t-shirt and volunteering to lead a parade."

Nick knew if anyone could work miracles, it would be Jan.

Jillian politely informed the loony woman, "Only my closest friends call me Jilly."

"Good to know, Jilly." Jan handed Nick the bottle of chilled champagne she bought. "I'm sure you can get that cork to pop in record time, jocko." She winked at her newest friend and whispered, "Perk one of having a gay son…they've got very strong fingers because they play a lot of hand ball."

As the cork sailed through the air in record time, Jillian cringed.

Jan snatched the bottle and instructed her future son-in-law, "Grab an apron, Nicky, I'm going to teach you how to make the perfect pancakes for your Cambodian daughters."

"What?!" The already overwhelmed mother exclaimed, "You got a Cambodian girl pregnant, Nicky?"

"No, ma'am," he chuckled sweetly, "they would be adopted Cambodian children."

"You mean like that Angelina Jolie did?" Jillian clarified.

"And Brad Pitt," Jan said before purring, "talk about a hottie."

Walking over to the fridge, Nick pulled Cassie's picture out from under a magnet. "I just found out that this little one is gonna be up for adoption." He placed the photo on the counter for both moms to see. "Wouldn't it be nice for Jenni to have a little sister?"

After gazing into the little girl's eyes for a moment, Jan glanced up sniffling, "Yes."

* * *

"No," Sara answered as she stood at the bathroom counter brushing her teeth with her significant other. "I don't think you were wrong to lie to Ecklie." She grinned while rinsing her toothbrush. "I think Ecklie should be lied to as often as possible." 

"The problem with lying to Ecklie is that he follows up and tries to catch you in the lie." Grissom returned his toothbrush to its cup and dried his hands. "Like that time at the awards banquet when I was supposed to give a speech about him. I ducked out and made Catherine take my place, but he bugged me for weeks for a copy of the speech for his scrapbook. Finally I sat down and wrote something out just to get him off my back." Walking towards the bed with Sara, he said, "I'm sure he'll ask Greg for photo proof that he took the time off to welcome Jenni into the family."

"Did you warn Greg so he can snap a few before he leaves for Dallas?"

"Yeah." Climbing into bed, Gil sighed, "Now let's remember our new rule – we don't bring work to bed with us. No discussion of cases, co-workers, or conundrums."

"No problem." Snuggling up to her man, Sara spoke in her sexiest rasp, "It's all about us between the sheets." When Bruno jumped on the bed, she added, "And our high-maintenance boxer."

"Sleep well, honey." Gil pecked his lover's lips.

"You too." She knew he was beat and so was she. "If it's okay with you, I'll take a romance rain check."

"If you insist," Gil replied before breaking into an unruly yawn. Within minutes, he was deeply snoozing.

"It's just you and me, Bruno." Sara surfed through the TV channels. "What are you doing?"

After walking in circles and kneading the bedding with his paws, the dog finally settled down with his eyes on the door so he could protect his loved ones while they slept.

"Look at you." She rewarded the pooch with a scratch. "You're such a good guard dog." Soothed by the rise and fall of her lover's chest and the steady sound of Bruno's breathing, Sara clicked off her lamp. With a permanent roof over her head and family who loved her nearby, the formerly homeless foster kid realized she finally had everything she once lost. With friends struggling through personal problems all around her, she felt blessed that everything in her life was finally going right. Maybe it would stay this way forever, she thought as she drifted, but just in case it didn't, she planned on enjoying every day, no matter how mundane or exhausting, like it might be her last. "Mmm," she contentedly slumbered. Life was good.

* * *

"Life sucks," Mandy whimpered as she trudged to her car. All that she had to look forward to were her aloof cats, leftover Chinese food, and eight lonely hours of slumber. Then her alarm would ring and she'd go into the Lab and do her monotonous shift over again. "Life sucks." Half way across the parking lot she started to cry. 

"Hey, Mandy!" Henry greeted the love of his life as he hurried across the lot to catch her.

The Fingerprint Tech scrambled to wipe her eyes

"I guess you worked some OT too, huh? How…are you crying?"

"No," she replied as her lips quivered and tears poured from her eyes.

"It sure looks like you are."

"I hate my job and my life. I even hate my cats," she confessed. "They're mean to me. It's like they have a clique and I'm not in it. I don't even want to go home to them."

"Um…" Taking a huge risk, Henry said, "How about we grab some takeout breakfast and eat it at my place while watching a funny movie to cheer you up?"

"I don't think so, Henry," she sniffled, "as you can see, I'd be horrible company. I'm miserable."

"All the more reason you shouldn't be alone!" He waved her toward his car. "Come on. I'll drive you back here for your car after the movie." Dangling his keys, he asked, "Your cats are probably expecting you home to feed them, maybe you should teach the little ingrates a lesson and not show up."

"Well, when you put it that way," wiping her tear-stained cheeks, she trudged toward the car, "why not?" She shrugged. "It can't hurt, right?"

"Not unless I'm secretly an axe-murderer," he joked, but when he saw Mandy bawl, he remembered that her old boyfriend had turned out to be a serial killer. _God, I'm an idiot! _"Um, do you like pancakes?"

"My dead grandma used to make the best pancakes," she sobbed while opening the car door, "I miss her."

"How about eggs instead?"

"Eggs…" She glanced over with red eyes. "Can you hear my eggs? They're drying up inside me. I'm never going to have a baby."

He opted for a joke, "If you want, I'll impregnate you after breakfast."

"But you're gay."

"Oh my God! I'm not gay! I'm not!" He started the car with a huff. "Why does everyone keep thinking I'm gay?!" he asked as the soundtrack from Dreamgirls filled the car. "I'm straight and I'm willing to prove it!" He stopped talking to focus on backing out carefully so his white VW convertible wouldn't get scratched. "Gay. Pfft. If anyone is gay, it's Greg Sanders!"

* * *

**ANs: **

Intervention over! I know there was a lot packed into that chapter, I was shocked when I did the word count! I hope it was a good read : )

Angst is on the downswing. The next chapter will have a lot of laughs and some tears, both bittersweet and of joy.

Thanks to KJT for editing/consulting and to my hubby and Veronica10 for pre-reading and making suggestions!

Thanks to everyone for reading and for all who left comments on the last chapter and kind words for me! Life is hectic, but writing the story is a nice escape and knowing some people are enjoying it and looking forward to the next chapter really helps! I will have some time on Sunday to reply : )

**Maggs **


	8. Chapter 8: Oops!

**AN: FYI - the story rating has changed to M as of Chapter 7. **

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 8: Oops!**

After placing his mother's suitcase on the luggage rack, Nick asked, "Think you'll be comfortable here?" He chose the Mandalay Bay because they would be having dinner and seeing the Shark Reef there later with Cassie.

"I'd be more comfortable if you'd let me pay for the room."

"I couldn't let you do that, Mama." Nick grabbed the ice bucket sitting on the dresser. "You're here for me, so the least I can do is pay for your stay and spoil you a little. Is there anything else I can get for you before I go home to sleep? I'll get you some ice and there's a soda machine out there. Feel free to grab stuff from the mini-bar and order room service on me too."

"No, I don't need anything else. Jan's breakfast was very filling and I'm going to take a nap, because I'm exhausted from the travel and the stress."

"I'm sorry about the grief, Mom."

"Honestly, I'm more devastated about Skye than you, honey. At least you're an adult who has an education, owns a home and has a good job. Skye is only graduatin' high school in a few weeks. After that she was leavin' for a French Immersion program in Paris for the summer and then startin' Harvard in the Fall. Now she'll be at home bent over a toilet with morning sickness instead of tourin' the Louvre, and while all her friends are takin' final exams in December, she'll be in the throes of labor. I'm sick over it."

"With the right support at home, she can still go to college locally, even after the baby's born."

"Yes, but that's hardly the future she had. One night of irresponsibility ruined everything she's worked so hard for all these years." Taking a seat on the bed, she motioned for him to join her. "You can get ice in a minute."

Thrilled that she wanted to talk, Nick quickly returned the bucket to the dresser and took a seat on the bed.

"You know I'm a firm believer in honesty bein' the best policy."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded. "And I want you to be completely honest with me."

After taking his hand between hers, she looked him in the eyes and said, "I don't want you to be gay, Nicky, but if you really are I won't turn my back, but maybe you really aren't. Maybe you're legitimately confused because of the sexual abuse you suffered. Isn't there a good chance that you're not attracted to women because of what that animal did to you when you were a boy?"

"I thought the very same thing, Mama. I even talked it out with my friend Sara. She minored in Forensic Psychology and did a lot of research on the effects of physical and sexual abuse on children. She explained it real good and basically it comes down to this…the abuse could make me subconsciously hate women and make it difficult for me to bond with them, but it wouldn't make me physically attracted to men. And it's not like I turned to men because I was repulsed by women, I've been with hoards of women. If anything, the abuse confused me and delayed my acceptance of bein' gay."

"Oh."

"I talked this through with my therapist too just to be sure. He's in agreement."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure you had considered that." Sighing, she said, "I guess I just can't believe it's really true, that you're absolutely sure. Are you sure, Nicky? I need to be convinced that you're sure."

"Okay." He placed his free hand on top of hers. "I apologize if this is too much for you to hear."

Jillian braced for a shock.

"At 35 years old, I had never once felt anything emotional when I was physically with someone. I had fun with women, some more than others and I was physically satisfied during and after relations, but somethin' was always missin'." Averting his eyes, he continued, "I'd be with a woman and I could tell she felt a connection. She'd want to snuggle up after and I could see her truly in the afterglow, but for me it was different. The ones I liked felt like fun friends that I had sex with, but nothin' beyond that. The ones I didn't like…I just wanted to do it and bolt. I'd make excuses to leave and say I'd call, but I wouldn't. With most of 'em, I honestly didn't care if I ever saw them again, because there was just nothin' there."

The troubled mother grasped for a straw, "Maybe you were datin' the wrong kind of girl, Nicky."

"Yeah, I thought that too," he assured her. "I tried datin' women I was friends with, but even though we'd be havin' a great time on a date, when it came to the physical, it was flat, no sparks or fireworks. There were a couple of exceptions over the years and before I became involved with Greg, I woulda told you that it was the real deal with them, but not now." He shook his head. "I don't want to offend you, so I won't say too much, but the first time I touched Greg, I felt a thrill that I never felt before. The first time we kissed, I really did see stars, and when he held me in his arms, I felt a peace I've never known. The last thing I want to do after we're together is bolt. I love curling up and fallin' asleep with him. In Greg's arms is where I want to be from now until the day I die. I'm not just sayin' that, I **feel **it. I feel it with a conviction that I can't explain other than to be hokey and say it's true love."

"How can you be so sure so soon, honey?"

"It's not soon, we've been together for eight years. Greg was a co-worker first, and then a friend. In the last two years, he's become my best friend. Now he's my best friend and my lover." He lifted his gaze to hers, letting her see the joy in his eyes. "For the first time in my life, I'm in love. He loves me too, Mama, so much. He's like a puppy sometimes, running to the door to greet me with bright eyes." He chuckled, "He's as wacky as he dresses, and he's the only person on this planet that knows how to cheer me up after a bad day on the job. He's just what I needed."

"You're really happy," she cried, "I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice."

"I really am." He clutched her hand and spoke from the heart, "I wish I could be happy without hurtin' you and causin' problems for the family, I really do, but I can't. Even after today and seein' how disgusted Chuck and Daddy are, I can't go back to my life before Greg." Smiling he said, "You always say life is like a country song, Mama, well mine is like that Rascal Flatts song, The Day Before You, you've heard that one, right?" When she nodded, he said, "I never wanna go back to the day before Greg. If I had to go through everything I've gone through in life just for fate to place me in the right place at the right time to get to his love, then I'd do it all again, even the bad parts - the abuse, the car accident, the stalker…even the coffin. It's** that** perfect, Mama. It feels **that** right."

Tears pooling in her eyes waiting to spill, Jillian said, "I believe you, honey." She placed a trembling hand on his cheek. "I believe that you are livin' the way you're most happy. I'm not sure yet how I reconcile that with my religious beliefs though. You know me, I'll have to do some readin' and prayin' to figure things out. I also don't know how to handle my work with my Preserve the Family group. I don't know how I'm going to cope, but what I do know is that it would be illogical for me to be angry or upset with you for bein' who you're meant to be, and that you'd never intentionally do anything that would hurt me."

"That's absolutely true, Mama."

"I'll work on things back home, okay?"

"Thank you."

"I don't think it will ever be great with your father, Chuck and the twins, but I think I can at least make things tolerable for you and Greg to visit as long as you don't..."

"Act too gay? We'll just act like we do when we're at work." He kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

* * *

"You're welcome, sweetie." Jan pressed a kiss to Greg's cheek before grabbing her purse. "Your father and I are going to check into the Mandalay and take a nap, because we got up at four to make the drive. We'll head to the hospital around five to hang out with Jenni and get her ready for her big evening on the town. That girl is so excited about her three hours of freedom, I can't imagine what she'll be like on Thursday when she gets to leave for good." 

"I hope she hits it off with Cassie." Greg walked his mother to the door. "But how can they not considering their similar situations, right? They're both really intelligent and great students too." He opened the door and saw his father just pulling into the driveway. "Cool, Dad's just getting back from the store."

"I have a gut feeling that it's going to be off the charts perfect."

"And I predict you'll fall in love with Cassie in 2.5 seconds. That kid is freakin' adorable." He waved to his father. "See you later, Dad." He watched his mother walk to the passenger door. "Thanks again for all your help with Nick's family."

"My pleasure," Jan shouted back. "Now get in there and set the mood for your man. Candles, soft music and a good back rub should get him relaxed a bit." She snickered, "Then practice some of that safe sex we were talking about this morning. I want my money's worth from that gigolo!"

Dave plugged his ears and sang, "I'm not listening to my wife tell my son how to get it on with his gay lover."

"Remember this, Greggy!" Jan shouted as they pulled away, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!"

* * *

Holding up another bottle of Chardonnay, Henry tipsily asked, "Should we open a third?" 

"No way!" Mandy yelled from the couch, where she was splayed like a drunken fool. "We definitely shouldn't have a third bottle…but do it anyway."

"You're kind of a lightweight, huh?" Henry struggled to pop the cork. "Me too actually, I never drink this much."

"Need some help?"

"No, I've got it," he lied. The cork wasn't budging.

While staring at her polished toes, which she was wiggling, Mandy exclaimed, "I'm having much more fun with you than on my date with Greg Coin Boy Sanders. That was the **worst **date of my life."

"So, there's no chance the two of you will…"

"Nooooooooo!" She burst out laughing, "If he was the last geek on Earth, I would pass, and not just because he has an ass rash, likes to collect coins and can't drink booze."

"Can't drink booze?" Henry released a primal scream as the cork finally moved. "Got it!" He proudly displayed the uncorked bottle. "What makes you think Greg can't drink? I overheard him talking with Sara last night and he was telling her all about this locally brewed beer he drank while he was on vacation last week."

"He wasn't on vacation," she corrected. "He was at a conference in Long Beach."

"Only for the first few days." Henry filled their glasses. "I distinctly heard him talking about being on vacation with someone named Cletus. That's why I'm sure he's gay. This guy Cletus bought him a shell bracelet. Straight guys don't buy each other shell bracelets." He cleared his throat and puffed out his tiny chest. "I know that, because I'm, straight and I never would. I think there's a good chance that your date from hell was a beard date."

"A beard date?!" In her inebriated state, Mandy tried to make sense of everything. "Oh! Oh my God!"

"What?! Is something wrong with the wine?" He sampled from his glass. "Seems fine to me."

Mandy jumped to her feet. "Cletus is Nick!"

"Nick who?"

"Nick Stokes!"

Henry burst out laughing. "Does all wine make you delusional? Or just Chardonnay? Nick's not gay."

"I saw Nick and Greg at the grocery store." Pacing Henry's immaculate living room, she excitedly relayed the details, "I turned the corner and saw Greg with his hand on Nick's cheek. They totally looked like a couple and I was going to bolt, but Greg saw me, so I walked over to say hi. When I looked into their cart, there were jumbo boxes of condoms and Astroglide."

"Ooh!"

"Exactly!"

"Wait…" The drunken man sought clarification, "Did you see jumbo-sized condoms or jumbo boxes of regular-size condoms?"

She burst into a fit of giggles. "Jumbo boxes."

"Cool." Henry joined in the laughter.

"They saw me glance into the cart, and that's when Greg asked to speak to me in private. When Nick left, he told me this story about comforting Nick and then he asked me out. Fast forward to last night and our date from hell."

"But how do you know Nick is Cletus?"

She slurred, "Right, right, I forgot that part." After guzzling the jumbo glass of wine Henry had poured her, she wiped her lips and sat on the couch next to her host. "I was heading toward the cash registers when I heard some hick shout 'Yo, Cletus! Grab me some Skittles!' I laughed out loud, because Cletus is such a redneck name and I couldn't believe people were actually named that for real. When I glanced down the aisle I was in front of, there was Nick was holding a big bag of Skittles while Greg pushed their shopping cart."

"Whoa."

Pretending she was a CSI, she continued her analysis, "And you said Cletus bought him a shell bracelet, right? Well, when we were at Peter Piper Pizza last night, a kid threw a Skee Ball off to the side and it hit Greg's wrist just as he was leaning forward to pick up his next ball. He totally panicked that the hard ball broke the shells of his bracelet. He frantically checked every shell on it to make sure it was safe. Clearly, it was very special."

Stunned by the revelation, Henry fell back against the cushions. "Wow…I really can't imagine Nick Stokes being gay."

"I can, but only as a top." Snickering, Mandy grabbed the wine bottle to refill her glass.

"As a top of what?"

"Wow." Mandy stopped pouring. "You really aren't gay, are you?"

"Would a gay man do this?" he asked before cupping her face and bestowing a passionate kiss.

* * *

"Mmm," Nick broke the welcome-back kiss and grabbed Greg's hand. "I'm dyin' to dive under the covers." 

"Let's go." Greg led the way down the hall to the bedroom. "Check it out."

When Nick peered into the dimly lit room, he saw a half dozen flickering candles. "What's this?"

"A little tranquility after the storm." Greg whispered against his partner's ear, "Lose your clothes and meet me under the sheets for the best back rub of your life."

"You won't have to ask me twice."

They stripped in record time and met in the center of the mattress.

"I'm so happy things went well for you when you spoke to your mom." Greg stole a kiss before his lover could respond. "Now that the big confrontation is behind us, I'll confess that a teeny tiny part of me was scared shitless that you were going to panic and feel conflicted enough to need a break from me or something." He bumped their noses together, "Did you have any doubts?"

"Nope, not even for two seconds."

"Cool." Greg rubbed his hands together. "Ready for your back rub?"

"Definitely." Nick rolled onto his stomach and watched Greg reach into the nightstand for lotion. "Thanks for the room and everything."

"You're welcome." Greg stashed some additional supplies under a bed pillow. "If you want to work out some of your tension the old fashioned way, you know where to find what you need." He straddled his tense partner's thighs.

"Your mommy would be proud of you for encouragin' safe sex," Nick chuckled.

"Holy shit, I thought for sure you'd lose it when your mother started bawling and saying she didn't want you to get AIDS. But you were totally calm and told her about how we get HIV tests every six months because of the job and that we're responsible, that was great. You seemed so prepared that I thought you were going to whip out test results."

"I have to credit Dr. Henry for running through all the stuff they might bring up, so I wasn't surprised."

"Of course, now my mom is totally freaked that I'm going to die from handling body fluids all day on the job. And then you made it worse by blabbing about me getting bit at work by that psycho bitch who didn't want me to swab her." He had spilled the beans at breakfast. "She probably won't let that go until I hand her a clean bill of health in a year."

"Sorry," Nick chuckled, "I regretted it the second I said it." Moments later his knots were being expertly kneaded and the morning's tension was melting away. "Mmm, that's good."

"Just tell me what you want and I'll do it."

"Shouldn't that be my line since I'm the gigolo?"

"Ha!" After singing from the chorus of 'I'm Just a Gigolo', Greg swooped in for a kiss. "I love you."

"In spite of family. God, they were awful. I'm especially sorry you had to hear those nasty things my brother said. They're still echoin' in my head." _I'll vomit if you say you're bitin' a pillow for the Gay Gourmet over here. _"I hate that he made it sound like you're just…"

"Some candy ass bottom you mercilessly bang when I'm not busy cooking for you?"

"Yeah and how I'd be better off dead if it was the other way around." Nick's nausea returned. "God, I hate him for that and 99 percent of everything else he says or does."

"You know what," the masseuse strengthened his grip, "just let it all go and relax. That abusive pig isn't worth talking about."

"I couldn't agree more."

A few minutes later, Greg felt the tightness dissipating. "Feeling better?"

"Much." But truthfully his brother's nasty words were still weighing heavy on his mind.

"Your shoulders and back are looser."

"Yeah." Nick whispered, "Go a little lower, G."

"You got it." Greg swirled his palms down to his partner's lower back. "How's that?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Nick spoke as soft as the music filling the room, "Lower."

Greg laughed, "But I'm not allowed near your backdoor."

"You are today," Nick slipped his hand under the pillow to retrieve what had been stowed.

"Hold up." Greg slid next to his lover. "Exactly what do you want me to do?"

The usually dominant partner handed over the supplies and said, "I want you to take a turn in the driver's seat."

"What?" Staring at the items in his palm, Greg asked, "Is this about what your brother said?"

"A little bit," Nick honestly answered. "He made it sound like I take advantage of you."

"But you know that you don't."

"But I kinda feel like am."

"How?"

"From the stuff people say like 'I hope you're the top'. Even things you say, like when you told me your dad is struggling with the idea of you bein' my bitch."

"I was joking."

"I know, but it's like they're sayin' you're…"

"Beneath you?" Greg joked.

"You know what I mean, smart ass."

"You have nothing to worry about." Greg handed back the supplies. "I love having you in the driver's seat."

"That's part of it too though." Nick opened his lover's hand and pressed the supplies into his palm. "I want to know if I would love it."

The genius suddenly came to a conclusion. "I think there's a _little more_ to this request than curiosity."

"Okay, okay." Nick burst into a wild grin, "My daddy hates me for givin' it to guys, so think how much he'd hate me if he knew I took it just as well as I gave it."

"I knew it!" Greg laughed.

"Come on, G, pop my cherry." Nick egged him on with kisses and wandering hands. "I want to be 100 percent queer so my daddy hates me real good. After we're done, I'm gonna Fed Ex him my bitten pillow with a note that says 'I'll see you in hell, you nasty bastard.'"

Staring at the bottle in his hand, Greg sighed, "And what would your therapist say about this scenario?"

"I think he'd say it was a healthy release of my anger and an excellent way to gain closure."

Greg laughed, "You think so, huh? I don't know about this."

With his hand in just the right place, Nick playfully said, "Well, your mind may have doubts, but your body is definitely game."

"Confession time."

Nick stopped pelting Greg's chest with kisses. "What's wrong?"

"I've um…I never…not with a guy** or** a girl."

"Seriously? Not even with the Bunny Ranch girl you paid to go around the world on your first time?"

"Nah, I chickened out before I crossed the International Dateline." Greg gripped his hair. "I would have downed a few more mimosas at brunch if I knew I was going to be under performance pressure."

"Don't worry." After a reassuring kiss, Nick whispered against his nervous lover's lips, "I guarantee you'll be the best I ever had." He playfully tugged on his bottom lip with his mouth while pressing their heating bodies together. "Come on, I want to squirm like I make you squirm." He popped the lid of the bottle. "I want to know why you go insane every time I hit the spot." After a lingering a kiss over his partner's mouth, he turned so they were spooning. "Touch me."

"I can't believe you want me to do this." More than a little unnerved, Greg started by dropping innocent butterfly kisses on Nick's shoulder and caressing his thigh.

"Mmm, that's nice."

"Hey…" Greg leaned forward and caught his lover's eyes, "I'll do this if it's because we love each other and want to have some fun, but not if it's about pissing off your father or because you have something to prove."

With a wink, Nick replied, "I love ya, G, let's have some fun."

Although he still believed the request had been made for the wrong reasons, Greg forged on.

"You are gonna warm that stuff up, right?"

"Nope." When his partner whimpered from the cool liquid, Greg continued parroting the words he heard during his first time on The Freyja, "I like to warm it up** after** it's on the body."

The first touch sent a wave of panic coursing through Nick's body and with an anxious chuckle, he admitted, "Suddenly, I'm feelin' pretty vulnerable."

"You should feel vulnerable." Greg let his hot breath drift over Nick's earlobe as he spoke, "Because you're in a very vulnerable position, Mr. Control Freak." He lingered a slow, wet kiss over the edgy virgin's neck while gently exploring previously uncharted territory. "Luckily you're with someone who loves you and would never hurt you. Relax, Cletus."

While gripping the pillow in front of him, Nick sweetly replied, "I'm findin' out that relaxin' is easier said than done in this situation."

"We're just fooling around and having some fun, remember? There's no reason to be tense." Getting playful, Greg said, "I call this next game 'treasure hunt'." Seconds later, when Nick was squirming, he joked, "X-tasy marks the spot and from the sound of things, I'd say I found it. Did I?"

Nick replied by reaching back, threading his finger's through his lover's hair and gently tugging. "Yes." The pleasure was excruciating and all he wanted was more of the tortuous joy.

After a few minutes, Greg whispered, "We can bring things to a close like this if you'd rather."

Since the warm-up felt phenomenal, Nick was looking forward to the main attraction. "No, keep going." But his panic returned when he heard the rip of a wrapper. "But go slow."

"Of course." When he felt him tensing, Greg lied, "I just need a minute, okay?" As soon as his partner relaxed though, he made his big move.

Falling for his own edgy virgin trick, Nick was surprised by the invasion. "Damn, that's," he gulped air, "you really like when I do this to you?"

"No, I **love **when you do this to me." Greg murmured in his struggling partner's ear, "You have to relax and give it a minute or two." He sprinkled kisses as he spoke, "Tell me when you're ready."

Nick waited for what seemed like an eternity and when he didn't feel any better, he decided to continue anyway. "Okay."

After a tender kiss to his partner's cheek, Greg continued and after a minute of awkward silence, he whispered,"How does it feel now?"

"Just keep goin'," Nick answered, hoping it would start to feel pleasurable soon.

Being in the dominant position felt highly unnatural for Greg and the outrageous joy he usually felt when they made love was noticeably absent. _This is officially weird._ After a couple more minutes of mediocrity, he anxiously asked, "Are you loving it?"_ I'm not! _He missed the thrill of being dominated and physically possessed by another man.

"Um…" Nick didn't want to hurt his self-conscious lover's feelings, so he focused on the positive, "I **loved** the warm-up." But while that small invasion had felt fantastic, the large one felt awful. "This is…it's different." It wasn't just the physical discomfort that he wasn't enjoying, it was the idea of someone taking and possessing him, even though it was someone that he loved.

"Different good? Or different bad?" _I vote bad!_

Nick pulled in air through his nose and forcibly exhaled. "It's um…just different." He was growing increasingly uncomfortable. _Of all the times for the hyper little pervert to show restraint! _He closed his eyes and willed his lover to finish.

"I promise I won't be offended if you say you don't like it." Greg cringed as his discomfort intensified. When he didn't get an answer, he pushed, "Come on, Cletus, we need to be totally honest with each other in bed, especially if something hurts. If you don't like it, all you have to do is tell me to stop."

"Stop!"

Grateful for the reprieve, Greg carefully retreated and flopped onto the mattress. "Wow."

After a huge gulp of oxygen, Nick rolled onto his back and faced the ceiling. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Glancing over at his partner, Greg deadpanned, "We can try it again some other time…like when hell freezes over."

"You hated it too?" Nick asked with relief flooding his voice.

"Let's just say that I'd rather have root canal than top you again." Greg burst out laughing, "I'm such a big nelly bottom! I mean I always had my suspicions, but now I know for sure. God, that was awful."

"What does 'big nelly bottom' mean exactly?"

"It means I like it the way I like it and you don't have to feel guilty for driving ever again." Greg shivered. "I **hated** that Alpha-Neanderthal feeling of imposing myself on you. No, I **loathed** it. Seriously, I could never work for Lady Heather, because dominating feels so weird and unnatural to me. And besides that, it's too much frickin' work. Color me lazy, but I much prefer just showing up and having my toes curled for me. It wasn't remotely fun." He playfully poked his partner in the ribs and whimpered, "Don't make me be the boy again, Cletus, it was scary."

"Hey, I'm just the gigolo," Nick laughed, "I'll do what I'm told."

"Damn straight, ya big himbo. Now get this condom off me!" Laughing with his lover, Greg pointed to his groin. "My boy is traumatized from the dark, claustrophobic conditions he was forced to endure and he can't breathe. Get it off!"

Like a good gigolo, Nick did as requested. "Trust and honesty in bed isn't somethin' I'm used to. It's nice."

"Yeah." Greg rested his hands on the pillows above his head. "Now stop talking and right the universe, cowboy."

Knowing exactly what his partner wanted, Nick clamped his hands around the dedicated bottom's wrists, covered his body, and then kissed him with newfound ferocity. "Better?" It felt perfect to him.

"Mmm, that was the top-est kiss ever." Greg savored the crush of Nick's body against his heated flesh and the fire in his eyes. "So perfect." He breathlessly urged his aggressive lover, "Now do it again."

* * *

"I can't," Henry panted as Mandy loomed over him naked and hungry. "I…I don't think I have a condom left." She was eyeing him like prey and he feared she would eat him if he didn't service her again. "Sorry, I only had the one in my wallet." 

"Seriously?" With wild eyes the horny woman glanced around the room. "Check under the bed! Maybe one fell there the last time you were making love."

The exhausted geek whimpered, "If it fell there the last time I was making love, it would be expired by now."

* * *

"Expired?!?" Hodges stared at his computer screen. "I can't believe I let that lunch box get away from me because my credit card expired." He woke up believing he would be the proud owner of a Brady Bunch Silver Platters lunch pail, but was greeted with a nasty email that said he had tried to pay using an expired card and lost the item. "What a way to start the night." 

Leaning back in his home office chair, he stared at the photos tacked to the corkboard on the wall. With the exception of the ones of Nick and Greg, they were all pictures of him with his parents or his pets. "My life really does suck, doesn't it?" He shifted his eyes to his pet snake. "Don't answer that."

Forcing himself from his chair, he decided to cheer himself up by going to the Mandalay Bay to see the sharks. While attending a convention there a few weeks ago, he had won six free admissions to the attraction along with six coupons for the Bayside Buffet. "I'll troll for depressed women stuffing their mouths with comfort food." He had done that at the Rio a few times with some success. "Look out, lonely ladies!" After tossing his clothes, he posed and admired his body. "Davey Hodges is on the prowl tonight." He growled like a tiger. "And he's hungry."

* * *

"I hardly ate any lunch," Jenni told her new guardians. "I wanted to save my appetite for the buffet dinner. Nurse Patti told me the one at the Mandalay is really good too. She said they have a million desserts to choose from." 

While his wife fixed the girl's hair, Dave said, "And the best part is, you don't have to choose. You can take ten things and sample all of them."

"I'm so glad you guys came early." It was only four and they weren't scheduled to have dinner until six-thirty.

"We came early because we have a few things to discuss with you," Jan cheerily informed the teen.

"You're not changing your mind, are you?" Fear ripped through the parentless girl's body and mind.

"Goodness, no," Jan patted her cheek. "I'm counting the minutes until you're out of here. We just have something to tell you about Greg. Then, we have some family decisions to make and want to include you in them."

"Oh." Jenni's pulse stopped notching. "What about Greg? He's not hurt, is he?"

"No, it's nothing bad at all. You know his co-worker and roommate, Nick Stokes?" After the curious girl nodded, Jan said, "Well, the truth is…he's actually a little more than a friend to Greg. He's his life partner."

The almost-fifteen year old whispered, "You mean they're gay?"

"Yes." Jan resumed brushing Jenni's hair. "It's okay to ask questions or say you're uncomfortable. We weren't hiding it from you and would have told you sooner, but Greg has only recently come out to us." She snickered, "Although we certainly had our suspicions."

"No, I'm not uncomfortable at all," she assured the worried parents. "I was friends with a gay guy at school last year. He was totally cool. He had the best fashion advice. I miss him, he had to move to DC with his parents at the end of last year."

When he saw the teen burst into a sunny smile, Dave curiously asked, "Why so happy, honey?"

"Greg being gay totally explains why he wasn't crushing on me when I was crushing on him." Now that time had passed and she wasn't severely stressed, she could laugh about her unrealistic love for a 32 year old man. "If he was straight, he would have waited for me."

* * *

"Maybe we should wait and see," Greg whispered to Nick as they snuggled under the covers in the dark bedroom. After five hours of deep sleep, they had woken to the alarm they had set and quickly decided they had enough time to laze around for another ten minutes. "I know we're not ready to start a family now, but maybe nine months from now when Cassie has to leave, I'd be up for it. I guess I'm just worried that you're going to feel bad watching my dad raise the kid you've bonded with for almost two years." 

"I thought of that, believe me." Nick sighed, "But I still think it's the right thing to do. Yeah, I love her to pieces, but we can't give her the stable home life she needs, not with our hours and the stress we're under at the moment. We've been emotional every day this week, G. We can't be parents when we're head cases."

"Like my mom isn't a head case?" Greg laughed.

"You know what I mean. And even if Cassie is okay with two dads right now, the truth is she's gonna hit puberty real soon and I think it would best if she had a mom and a big sister around for that. I think it's gonna make her miss her birth mom more if she has ask her dads to buy tampons. It would be totally different adopting a little kid who didn't know what she was missin', but as an almost teenager who still cries for her mom every night, she would really benefit from your mom's love…no matter how nutty Jan is at times."

"Very true."

"And we need time to build our relationship before bringin' a child into the mix." Nick smiled at his partner, "It's like marriages that fail when people agree to marry because of a pregnancy. The couple moves in together and then the baby comes right away with all the stress of parenthood; it can be a disaster. I know that's exactly what will happen with Skye bein' forced to marry her 18 year old boyfriend of four months."

"No shit."

"We need to rid our lives of stress before takin' on any more." Running his fingers through Greg's tousled hair he said, "I've waited forever to have a relationship, so I don't think it's selfish to want to enjoy us bein' just a couple for a while. If there was no other option for Cassie, then yeah, but since there's a better option for her, I don't feel bad thinkin' of what's best for us too. We're in the new lovers phase and I like bein' able to walk around here naked and fool around in the kitchen if the mood strikes us. We're still discoverin' each other, as evident by our experience earlier."

Greg feigned a shiver. "Shh, I'm blocking the ordeal, remember?"

"Right." Nick laughed with his lover. "But my point is, I want the flexibility to have awful sex with you."

"Put me in the driver's seat again and it's a guarantee."

"And I want to have plenty of good times too." After a kiss, Nick said, "I'm happy, G. After all we've been through in the last couple of years, I think we've earned some time to just be as happy and unstressed as possible."

Greg initiated an Eskimo kiss, "I'm not ready, but I would have risen to the challenge if we needed to for Cassie's sake or for you."

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

"I just wanted to make sure you had really thought it through and you have, so…we're good."

"We're also late." Nick tossed off the covers and jumped out of bed. "I really hope your parents buy that big house they were talkin' about and live here for the school year and in California in the summer. Then I'll be able to be a big brother to Cassie all the time."

"I love how my parents went from no house in Vegas, to buying your townhouse for visits, to buying a big house and moving here." Greg laughed, "All within a matter of hours! Now you know where I get my hyperness from my crazy mother."

"Yeah, you get your naughtiness from her too." Nick smacked his cheeky lover's ass. "I still can't believe some of that stuff you said to me in bed."

"Oh, come on, I can't possibly talk dirtier than some of the scandalous babes you used to bang." When he saw Nick shoot him a look, he laughed, "No way! I was** that** bad? But you enjoyed it, right? I mean it's not something I'd want to do every time, but it's fun to crazy once in a while."

"Actually…" Nick shook his head, "It was too much."

"Seriously?" Greg panicked. "I really thought you were turned on, not off."

"No, I'm an old-fashioned guy," Nick continuing to yank his lover's chain. "I don't know, maybe my mom is right and I should try lovin' a nice girl like sweet little Mandy Webster."

* * *

_I'm such a raging slut!_ Mandy silently screamed when she woke up next to Henry hung over and naked._ I can't believe I slept with him…thrice! _Staring at the exhausted man, she thought, _He's so not gay…and so not my type. _She stared in horror at the wall covered in framed Playbills, one from every musical Henry ever attended – all 127 of them. _I hate showtunes! I hate how everyone suddenly breaks into song and miraculously knows all the words. That doesn't happen in the real world! _Henry's fascination with musicals wasn't quite as scary as her ex-boyfriend/serial killer's discovered collection of pinky fingers, but it was a close second. 

Embarrassed by her outrageously trampy behavior, she carefully slipped out of bed to find her clothes. _I can't believe I rode him and shrieked, 'Yee Haw! I'm Cowgirl Mandy and ridin' you is sweeter than candy!'_ While peeling a discarded condom wrapper from her foot, she muttered under her breath,"Hopefully he won't remember anything." _Where are my glasses? _Suddenly she tripped over a shoe and yelped.

Startled, Henry flicked on his bedside lamp. "Where are you going, Cowgirl Mandy?"

_He remembers!_ Even her toes were cringing. _Now I wish he was an axe murderer so he could kill me and put me out of my misery._

"Are you leaving?" He couldn't believe she was trying to sneak out without saying goodbye.

"Um, yeah. I… I feel bad that I didn't feed my cats, so I need to run."

* * *

Cassie ran to the door when she heard the bell. "They're here, Mama Evelyn!" 

"Calm down, honey," The sixty-three year old African American woman stood as fast as her arthritic knees would allow her. "Check the peephole first and make sure." Since one of the girls she was fostering was there because her gang-member father killed her mother, she was always worried the violent man would show up on her doorstep.

"It's them!" the girl shouted after checking the peephole.

Evelyn had said several prayers throughout the day hoping that the potential parents Nick had raved about would be as wonderful as he claimed. "Baby girl, you remember to mind your manners when you meet these folks at the restaurant tonight." The child had no idea she was being considered for adoption. "Remember to thank Mr. and Mrs. Sanders for their hospitality. It was very nice of them to include you in this family gathering." If all went well, then she would pull every string she had to get Social Services to process their application quickly.

"I promise," Cassie assured her guardian.

"Okay then, open the door." In her thirty years of doing temporary foster care for severely traumatized children, Evelyn had never fallen harder for a kid than she had for Cassie, who was the smartest and bravest child she had ever known.

"Howdy!" Cassie greeted the two men standing on the front porch.

"Hey there!" Greg cheerily replied. "I'm from L.A., so I don't do the howdy thing like Tex, here."

"Howdy, Cass." Nick tipped his imaginary cowboy hat. "Howdy to you too, ma'am."

"Thanks so much for takin' her out tonight, Nick." The foster mother laughed at herself for looking for signs of gayness now that she knew the man's secret.

Nick patted Cassie on the back. "Ready to chow down?"

"Yep." The girl pointed to Greg, whom she had first met when she was in the hospital and who had come to her classroom with Nick on two occasions. "Aren't you going to introduce Mama Evelyn to your boyfriend before we go?"

Although he had told Cassie about Greg earlier that morning and had outted himself to Evelyn over the phone, Nick was still thrown off balance by hearing the words 'your boyfriend' in public. "Yeah, of course. Where are my manners?" Nick motioned for Greg to step beside him. "Evelyn Delaney, this is my partner and co-worker, Greg Sanders.

"Nice to meet you." Greg shook the woman's hand and couldn't help wonder if she recognized him from the Demetrius James nightmare. "Nick's told me all about you and the program you run here. I think it's amazing that you've helped so many kids."

"Thank you." She couldn't help but stare at the man's face. "Sorry for gaping, but I expected you to look a whole lot worse from that senseless beating you took."

"Ah." With his question answered, Greg relaxed, "My parents are close friends with the best plastic surgeon in Vegas. I had some work done."

Cassie pointed to her throat. "Do you think that doctor could make my scar disappear? 'Cause then I wouldn't see it every time I looked in the mirror. Every time I see it, I think about what happened."

Nodding, Greg said, "I'm sure if I called him, he'd take a look at it and let us know if he could help."

* * *

"Let me help," Jan rushed to assist her husband in getting Jenni out of the car and into her wheelchair. "I called ahead and verified that the Shark Reef and the restaurant are handicap accessible, so we won't have to get you out of the chair once you're in it, dear." 

"I can't wait until I'm out of it permanently," the teen sighed. "That's all I want for Christmas this year." She silently chided herself for complaining when so many of her classmates were dead because of the accident her mother had caused. "But if not, that's okay. I know I'm lucky to be alive."

"It's okay to want to be healthy, honey." Jan kissed the top of her head. "And you can't feel guilty for being alive." She tried to lift her spirits. "I love the Christmas season. I'm not happy unless our house has enough lights to be seen for miles."

"Yeah, and the way Jan shops, you're bound to get a few dozen gifts." Dave winked at the girl. "I think you should ask for a puppy, because Jan won't be able to tell you no."

"Dave's been wanting a darn dog for years, but I keep telling him no."

"Hey, if you get your wish for Cambodian grandchildren, I'm getting a dog."

Jan dreaded the idea of a demanding, filthy animal running through her clean house.

* * *

"Bruno!" Sara shouted as the dog rushed into the townhouse. "Bruno, no!" But it was too late, muddy paw prints were everywhere. "Three…two…one." 

"Sara!" Gil shouted as he came whirling around the corner holding Bruno by the collar. "His feet are muddy and he jumped all over the bed."

"I was taking him to the sink to wash his paws, but lost my grip on him."

"Having a dog would be much easier if we had a yard."

"Maybe we should move," she suggested while wetting a towel at the sink. "We could use a bigger place. I know you hate sharing your home office with me."

"I don't hate sharing it with you, I just hate that there's not enough space for both of us."

"We should move." She wrung out the towel. "With the money you get from this place and the money I've saved, we could get a place that costs ten thousand dollars more than what you get for this place." She laughed, "I had a lot of graduate school student loans to pay off, so I couldn't save much over the years. Catalog shopping didn't help either."

"That's a big step, buying a place together."

"It's not as big as buying a dog together. You can sell a house and divide the profit. We can't divide the dog."

"Right." Gil sighed and glanced down at the pooch. "But keep messing up my bed and I'll relinquish the rights to my half."

Bruno stared at the man holding his collar.

"Don't look at me with sad eyes," Gil warned. "You're trouble with a capital T and you know it." When the dog continued to stare, his anger dissipated, "I fall for those sad eyes every time."

"I know," Sara knelt down next to the dog and began washing his paws with a wet towel. "I got your sympathy that way more than a few times." She spoke to the pooch, "Your daddy is pushover when it comes to a stray with sad eyes."

* * *

"We have to adopt her," Dave remarked to Jan when Greg took the girls to the buffet and Nick showed his mother to the restroom. "How the hell could that monster cut her and toss her off a boat to die?" His blood boiled just thinking about it. "There's a special place in hell for that bastard." 

"I hope there's still room for murderers in hell," Jan rolled her eyes while swirling the wine in her glass. "With all the homosexuals taking up space, they're bound to run out of room soon. Can you believe those people put gay men on par with killers and rapists?"

"Let's not rehash the insanity. Jillian is being very respectful to Greg and she's clearly not as fanatical as her husband, son and the Bible Twins we met this morning."

"I'm going to get more of those yummy mashed potatoes to soothe me." She stood and pushed in her chair. "We're watching everyone's things, so don't leave the table, honey."

"Why would I leave?" He chuckled, "I've got a mondo plate of sushi to keep me happy."

With her taste buds working overtime, Jan made a beeline for her favorite comfort food. She was so preoccupied with getting her spuds, she bumped into a man trying to get to the roasted turkey. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No harm done," Hodges replied to the attractive older woman who had perky blonde hair, a radiant tan and a killer smile. _Hmm, maybe an older woman would appreciate me more than those pretty young things I keep chasing._ _Christie Brinkly is 52 and she's still hot as hell. This fifty-something babe could be an ex-model herself and she seems very energetic._ When he saw her piling mashed potatoes onto a plate, his LWR (Lonely Woman Radar) sounded. _Comfort food…lots of it._ He tested his breath by blowing into his palm and when he didn't smell garlic, he forged on with his plan. "We meet again," he suavely greeted the brown-eyed beauty. "Are the mashed potatoes good here?"

"Yes, they're delicious!" Jan enthused. "Every time I come here I end up having two servings. You should try them."

"Maybe you should feed me some, sweetheart," he laughed like the rogue he was. "In bed."

"I'd love to." Jan filled her fork and smiled, "Open up and I'll give you a little preview, honey." When the pig did as requested, she flung the heap of spuds onto his face. "Enjoy!" she marched off to tell her husband about the jerk.

As potatoes slipped off his face, Hodges sighed, "There's another pickup line to cross off the list." He grabbed a cloth napkin from the display table and wiped his face as he huffed toward the dessert section of the buffet.

Meanwhile, Nick scanned the massive restaurant room for Greg and the girls. "Dessert, I should have guessed." Greg was just as bad as the kids when it came to sweets. "That's it, I'm cuttin' you off, G!" he scolded, upon seeing his partner popping a cream puff into his mouth. "Eatin' in the buffet line is totally tacky."

"You can't not eat these cream puffs." Leaning against the rail of the buffet line next to Nick, Greg held up a puff. "Open up, Cletus" He couldn't think of a better way to pass the time while Cassie wheeled Jenni past the desserts and helped her pick. "Yummy yummy."

"You aren't feedin' me in a public place." Nick reminded his lover, "That's how Cath busted us." Greg dropped that bomb on the drive to pick up Cassie.

"Well it was that and your sister telling her we were flaming homos who liked to get it on in the shower." Greg snickered, "Not that she was wrong."

"Put the puff down," Nick ordered before turning and whispering in his lover's ear, "If you're good, I'll let you feed me in bed later when we…Hodges." Hodges was standing right next to him. _Shit._

Grinning wildly, Hodges queried, "When you say 'If you're good, I'll let you feed me in bed later' are you speaking metaphorically or are the two of you really," he used air quotes, "'flaming homos who like to get it on in the shower'?'"

Greg didn't miss a beat. "We only said that stuff because we saw you standing behind us. We're not really gay."

Cassie came racing over with Jenni. "Look at all the yummy stuff we got!" The observant girl noticed the man standing with Nick and Greg. "Who's he? Do you know him?"

"Yeah," Nick answered, "we know him." But before he could elaborate, Cassie fired off her next question.

"Is he gay too?"

As Hodges broke into a Cheshire grin, Greg sighed, "No, both men and women dislike him."

* * *

"I like him," Mandy whimpered into the phone to Wendy, "and the sex was good, but he's a showtune obsessed Mama's boy who makes you take your shoes off in the entryway and compulsively straightens the throw rug fringe when he thinks you're not looking." 

"Are you sure the sex was good?" Wendy queried, unable to picture Henry as a stud. "How much did you have to drink? Because sometimes the sex seems good, but really it was the wine or tequila that was good."

"We did tear through three bottles of Chardonnay," Mandy moaned while holding her throbbing head. "Three bottles of wine, three love making rounds and one…oh my god!"

"What?! What?!"

"One condom! We only had one condom."

"How did you have sex three times with one condom?"

"We didn't!" Mandy shrieked as she rocked in the fetal position on her bed. "We did it without protection twice."

"Are you insane?" Wendy scolded her friend, "Why would you do that?"

"I was under the influence of wine and desperation."

"Did you at least have the talk?"

"The talk?"

"You know, how long has it been, have you been tested, etc, etc, etc."

"Yes," Mandy remembered feeling confident that Henry was disease free. "But he was worried about pregnancy, so I told him I took the pill."

"Oh." Wendy released a sigh of relief. "Then there's probably nothing to worry about, because if ever there was a clean guy, it's Toxicologist Andrews. He's notoriously neat."

"There's just one problem." Mandy hurried to check her daytimer. "I haven't taken a birth control pill since 2004."

"You lied to him?!"

"No! I said I took the pill. I never said when I took it." The concerned liar flipped through her daytimer.

"When was your last period?"

"I'm checking right now."

"Peak fertility is usually between day 13 and day 18 of the menstrual cycle."

"12…13…14…15…16." Mandy dropped into her home office chair. "It's Day 16 of my perfectly regular 28-day cycle."

"Oops."

* * *

**ANs: **

**I was blown away by the positive response the last chapter received. In my nearly 3 years of writing, it was an all-time record! THANK YOU! To show my gratitude, I sat down and hammered out the next chapter ASAP. I hope you enjoyed it. : ) **

Thanks to KJT for the super-fast edit! And to Veronica10 and my hubby for pre-reading : )

The next chapter will advance a couple of days in the story and we'll see who is MORE comfortable and who is LESS comfortable! LOL. Jillian and Jan will have a scene together in the next chapter (many readers asked for one). Nick gets a nice surprise – he's cleared to return to work early. Of course once he gets there and has to deal with Hodges being in the catbird seat, he considers faking insanity for another leave of absence.

**Thanks for reading!  
****Maggs **


	9. Chapter 9: Moments of Truth Part 1

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 9: Moments of Truth - Part 1**

"Supper's ready!" Jillian Stokes announced as she walked into her son's living room. "I set it up buffet style since you don't have a big enough kitchen table for a sit-down meal. Y'all can fix a plate and bring it back to the living room to finish your game of Trivial Pursuit." Nick and Greg were partnered up against Dave, Jan and Jenni, and from the sound of things, she knew it was a heated competition.

Tantalized by the delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen, Jan was the first to stand. "Jilly, it was so nice of you to make a celebration dinner while the boys were sleeping and we were busy getting Jenni discharged."

The well-mannered Texan had given up trying to get the crazy California liberal to stop calling her by the nickname reserved for her husband and two closest friends. "Well, I wanted to cook Nicky all his childhood favorites before I returned home and he suggested we treat you tofu-eatin' beach bums to some cholesterol. Those were his words, not mine. I made cornbread with honey butter, chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes with white gravy, fried okra, Grandma's Coconut-Pecan Frosted Texas Sheet Cake and sweet tea." Smiling, she said, "I have a waiver for y'all to sign. It states that you know you're eatin' the heart attack special and you won't sue me should your healthy bodies go into shock."

"Wait 'til you taste my mother's chicken-fried steak, G." After jumping up, Nick grabbed his partner's hand and yanked him to his feet. "It'll melt in your mouth."

"It smells fantastic." Greg mindlessly swooped in for a quick peck to his lover's lips. "How…" When he saw Jillian turn away in disgust, he groveled, "Sorry, Mrs. Stokes. That kiss wasn't intentional. I was just…"

"Acting like a madly in love normal person?" Jan huffed, but her husband stealthily covered her mouth before she could voice the rest of her opinion on the woman's ridiculous 'no PDA' rule.

But Jenni, an insatiably curious girl, freely asked, "Why can't they kiss?"

Jillian didn't hide her feelings on the subject, "Because it makes me uncomfortable to see members of the same sex kissing each other, dear, so I've asked them not to get physical in front of me."

"Really?" The teen giggled, "I think they look cute when they're all mushy in love."

Eager to avoid another heated debate, Dave said, "We better eat or supper's gonna get cold."

"That would be a crime." Nick tossed his arm around his mother and walked her into the kitchen.

While his father helped Jenni, Greg escorted his mother onto the back patio for a quick chat. "Please stop, Mom. Tomorrow is Friday and she'll be on her way home at noon. I don't want Nick to be stressed on his first night back at work."

"Don't you feel bad when she looks funny at you?"

"No, because people have been looking at me funny my whole life…for a variety of reasons," he laughed. "The only ones who concern me now are the ones who are looking at me funny because they want to hurt or kill me, other than that…" He shrugged, "Who cares? Chuck Stokes can call me a pillow biter until he's blue in the face, but it won't hurt me. I know my pillows are bite mark free. As for Jillian's look of horror, I don't hold it against her. It **is** weird to see two guys kiss each other if you're not used to it. Dad is just getting used to it and he hasn't had 73 years of conservative programming telling him that same sex couples are going to hell."

"I still think it's rude to openly show your disgust like she does."

"It's not disgust. Jillian is genuinely worried about her son's fate, that's why she gets freaked out. She truly believes every kiss pushes her baby boy a little closer to the eternal hellfire. Admit it - if I was doing something that you truly believed was going to make me suffer for eternity, you'd cringe, right? No, you'd scream at me."

"I hate debating with you."

"Because I always win," he chuckled "Now promise me you'll back off."

"Fine!" Jan tossed her arms in the air. "It's normal for the mother and mother-in-law to butt heads, right? I'll keep my mouth shut for the rest of the evening." When her son laughed in her face, she smacked his arm. "Okay, I'll **try **to keep my mouth shut, smart ass."

As Greg accompanied his mother into the house, he thought, _now if only Hodges would do the same._

* * *

When Grissom saw Hodges strolling into the locker room several hours ahead of schedule, he asked, "What are you doing here so early?" 

"I'm sucking up of course." The Lab Tech grinned as he strolled by his boss. "Is it working?"

"No," Grissom droned.

"I'm also here because I'm turning over a new leaf."

Remembering Sara's insight about his disdain for Hodges, Grissom softened slightly. "Fine, I'll bite. **How** are you turning over a new leaf?"

The giddy employee flipped open his messenger bag and informed his boss, "After hearing you say that I wasn't worthy of your company, I did some soul searching and concluded that I should be nicer to my co-workers, especially to co-workers who aren't my intellectual equals. After all, they don't intentionally try to annoy people like us, right? They're just incapable of keeping up with our superior minds."

Grissom rolled his eyes.

Hodges lowered his voice to a whisper, "I'm starting with Nick and I'll work my way up from him in IQ order."

"How could you possibly know everyone's IQ?"

"I'll never tell."

"What is…" Grissom silently read the sign's message, which was fancily printed in flaming flamingo pink - **Welcome back, Nick! Have a FABULOUS shift!** _He knows. But **how** does he know? I really doubt they'd tell him. _The expert CSI began questioning the guilty party, "What was your inspiration for the message?"

"Well…" Hodges stared at the sign wearing a smirk. "He's returning, so I thought 'welcome back' was appropriate and since we all want him to do well tonight, I thought 'have a fabulous shift' fit the bill. Originally I put 'wonderful', but it wasn't enough. Magnificent was my next choice, but once I saw it on paper, it seemed like too much." His smirk expanded into a shit-eating grin before he lisped, "Fabulous, on the other hand, seemed jussssst right."

Before Grissom could ask another question, he received a text message. "I can't wait to see Nick's reaction," he huffed on his way out of the room. As soon as his feet hit the hallway, he glanced down to read the message from Sara.

**Found your missing shoe…in Bruno's mouth.  
Steamy sex later to ease the pain of your loss?**

"That dog." He grinned. "You need to eat my shoes more often, Bru..."

"Grissom!" Ecklie shouted when the absentminded professor crashed into him, causing him to spill his gourmet iced coffee and drop his stainless steel mug. "Dammit!"

"Sorry, Conrad." Still stunned from the unexpected crash, Grissom didn't realize he had dropped his phone.

"Maybe you're getting too old to read and walk at the same time." When Ecklie crouched down to pick up his mug he snuck a peek at the message displayed on the dropped phone. "A promise of steamy sex from none other than CSI Sidle." He snatched the cell and handed it over with a smirk. "No wonder you were distracted." He cherished the aggravation building in Gil's eyes. "So, you took my advice and got a life. Good for you, Gil, good for you."

Although Grissom hated the thought of Ecklie knowing about him and Sara, he **loathed** the idea that the pompous jerk was taking credit for the relationship.

"Since your carelessness caused me to spill my coffee, you'll clean this mess." The Assistant Lab Director strolled away smirking. "And remember what I said, Gil…if you let the relationship interfere with work, I'll have no choice but to remove CSI Sidle from your team."

Grissom didn't dignify the threat with an answer.

"What happened, boss?" Hodges queried as he joined Grissom in front of a puddle of spilled coffee and ice cubes.

"I don't know," the irate Supervisor snapped, "but clean it up!" He marched for the exit, so he could call Sara and grab some fresh air.

* * *

"Let's take a stroll, Jenni." Dave Sanders suggested while bringing the girl's wheelchair over to the couch. "We'll walk the guys to the parking lot, wave them off to work, and then I'll take you around the neighborhood. You need as much fresh air as you can get after being holed up in that hospital for nearly two months." 

"You got that right, Dad," the teen replied, eager to use the paternal term as much as possible. "I used to go running four times a week before the accident. I really miss it. Are you coming, Mom?"

Jan felt a tug on her heartstrings every time her new daughter used the maternal term. "Thanks, honey, but it wouldn't be fair to stick Jillian with the mess, so I'm going to stay back and help her tidy up."

"I can handle the clean up by myself." The mentally exhausted woman assured, "I'll be fine, you go on the stroll with your family."

"Don't be silly, Jilly," Jan cheerily donned a smile and an apron. "It'll give us more time to bond before you return home tomorrow."

_That's what I was afraid of._ Jillian forced a smile. "If you insist."

"I think it's best that we get closer since our sons are planning to spend the rest of their lives together." Jan tossed her arm around the crazy fundamentalist. "As different as we are, we can bond for the sake of our boys, right?"

"Yes, yes of course." With six annoying mother-in-law's to deal with already, the last thing she needed was another one.

"As the mother-of-the-bride," Jan joked, "hosting the commitment ceremony and reception is my responsibility, but I'd love to share my ideas with you and hear your thoughts about what I have planned. I'm willing to be flexible, but I'm going to have to insist on a kiss when they're pronounced life partners or whatever they choose to be called."

As she settled into her wheelchair, Jenni excitedly asked, "Do I get to be a bridesmaid since I'm the sister of the bride?"

"You bet, honey. Cassie too."

"Cool!"

Jillian found the idea of child bridesmaids at a faux marriage ceremony for gay men highly unnerving.

"Hey, Jilly," Jan queried, "Do you have a little granddaughter who could be the Flower Girl? What about a grandson to be Ring Bearer?"

"I'm sure Gwen would allow little Kayla to participate, she's four, but the only little boy is Chuck's son and he, like Eileen, Linda, Marcia and my husband have all informed me they will not be in attendance."

"Come on, G!" Nick shouted as he hurried into the house. "Where is he?" he asked the family members loitering in the kitchen. "G! Let's go!" he yelled down the hall. "I packed my truck and your car already, what the heck is takin' so long?! You have thirty seconds, or I'm leavin' without ya!" Since Dr. Henry had fought to get him back at work a week early, he couldn't wait to prove to Ecklie that he wasn't incompetent. "I don't want to be late."

"Geeeeeeez! We're going in three hours early!" Greg reminded his partner when he rushed into the living room buttoning his shirt. "We can't be late if we're going in early."

Jan rushed over with open arms. "Have a great shift, Nicky!"

Jillian cringed every time she heard the other mother call her son by his childhood name. _It's Nick to you! _The only thing she could stand to hear even less was Greg referring to him as 'Cletus'.

"Save some mommy hugs for me, Cletus!" Greg half-joked.

_Ugh._ Jillian busied herself wiping the counter.

Dave couldn't decide who was more resentful of affection being showered on Nick – Greg or Jillian. "Don't forget to hug your son, Jan. He's looking a little green."

Realizing his father was right, Greg chuckled, "Hey, I went from being an only child to sharing my mommy with Nick and Jenni. You have to give this spoiled Mama's Boy time to adjust."

"Aww, come here, sweetie." Jan smothered her boy with kisses. "Better?"

"A batch of Snickerdoodles waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I get home would really help too." Greg ducked in time to miss his mother's playful smack.

While the carefree Sanders clan laughed and joked with one another, Jillian lovingly adjusted her son's shirt collar and quietly said, "Have a good shift, honey. Promise me you'll stay alert out there, okay?"

"I promise, Mama." The dutiful son placed a kiss on his mother's cheek. "With all the baggage I've dumped recently, I'm actually a whole lot less distracted."

"Good." She placed a palm on his cheek and whispered, "Would it be too much to ask you to come alone tomorrow for breakfast and drivin' me to the airport? It's hard to get a word in with this crowd, and I'd love to spend a little quiet time with you before leavin'."

"I already told Greg that I wanted to see you off alone. He understands." Nick waved goodnight. "I'll see you about 9:30."

* * *

"It's ten," Mandy whimpered as she sat on the couch wallowing in shame and regret. "Do I sound sick?" she asked her cats while doing her best nasal voice. 

The aloof felines responded by slinking off.

"I heard you laugh at me!" She grabbed her cordless phone and punched in Grissom's number. "Hopefully he's not at his desk."

Three rings and the phone clicked to her Supervisor's voicemail. "Hi, Grissom, it's Mandy. I…" she inserted a phlegmy cough, "I'm really sorry, but I'm still too sick to come in tonight. I have a 103 fever and…" she forced a powerful sneeze, "I think it's flu. I hate to miss two nights in a row, but…" she added another cough for good measure. "I'll call Jacqui and make sure she knows about all my pending work. Thanks for understanding. I'll keep you posted. Bye."

* * *

"Hello there," Catherine greeted her bedmate when he opened his eyes. "Time to wake up." 

Warrick brought a hand to his weary head. "Really?"

"Yep." With her mother at home with her daughter, Catherine had enjoyed her first sleepover party at her boyfriend's new apartment. "We should have gone to bed earlier."

"Yeah." Reaching over, he tucked his lover's tousled hair behind her ear. "We should have gone to bed years ago."

"Mmm, but it was worth the wait," she murmured as their lips met for a sultry kiss. "Mmm…keep kissing me like that and I won't want to get out of bed."

"Let's call in sick, baby," Warrick suggested while exploring the creamy expanse of Catherine's neck with his mouth.

"And miss Nick's first night back? I think he's counting on us to be there for moral support, don't you?"

Warrick's silence spoke volumes.

"You're worried about seeing him, aren't you?" She saw the answer in his eyes. "This is exactly why I told you to call him yesterday. You should have cleared the air before meeting up at work."

"Easier said than done, y'know? And I didn't think he'd be comin' back tonight, I thought I had a week." He quietly admitted, "I'm a little freaked to be totally honest. Nick is my best friend and it's so…so…"

"Awkward for you?"

"Yeah."

"He's the same guy he was a month ago," Catherine reminded him.

"Yeah, but **I'm** not the same guy. A month ago I didn't know Nick was having sex with Greg, but now I do." It was nice having someone around to confide in again. "It's gonna be hard not to think about that when I see him and when I do, I get uncomfortable." Snuggling closer, he whispered, "Nick's a perceptive guy. He's gonna see me struggling and I don't want him to, y'know? I don't want to hurt him like that. I just want the status quo. I want to be a great friend to him, but how can I be when I can't talk about his love life anymore?" Anxious laughter filled the room. "For the last eight years, him and me – we swapped stories about the ladies we went out with, I'm talkin' serious details." Crashing back on his pillow, he said, "But I guess he was bullshitting me, huh?"

"You think he was lying to you?"

"What would you call it?"

"He wasn't lying," she explained, "he was repressed and living a lie. He really did sleep with those women and the conversations he had with you were real. He wasn't yanking your chain or laughing at you behind your back."

Warrick chuckled at the hilarious memories, "He'd say he had a good time, but there would **always** be somethin' that turned him off and kept him from calling the lady or seein' her again. Sometimes it was big stuff like the time he hooked up with a devil worshipper on Halloween. He thought she was jokin' around, but when they got to her place, it was Satan's lair. Most of the time it would be stupid little stuff like she didn't enjoy country music or keep her fridge clean enough." Sighing, he said, "The only time he ever really fell for a girl was Kristy."

"Yeah, but now that I think about it in context, I think that was Nick the Hero in action, not Nick falling in love. He wanted to save Kristy and the rush he got from being her savior made him feel good."

"I guess." Inching closer still, Warrick confessed, "I'm open-minded and I'm happy that they're happy, I really am, but I gotta be honest, I can't deal with Nick tellin' me about him and Sanders gettin' it on and I can't imagine watchin' anything more than what we saw the other night."

"The finger sucking incident?"

The memory sent a shiver up his spine. "See, I can't go there. And how am I supposed to tell my best friend who has shared everything with me for years, that I don't want to know the details anymore? That I can talk about my romances, but his are off limits now. It sounds like shitty double standard, doesn't it? I should be able to hear him say that he's exhausted because he spent too much time gettin' his freak on with Greg. "

Seeing the distress on Warrick's face, Catherine sweetly counseled, "First of all, I really doubt he's going to share any details of his love life. Just like straight guys who dish about chicks they're dating stop talking about their love life once they marry a respectable woman, Nick's in committed relationship now and the details are off limits."

"Okay, yeah, I could see it that way. But I still don't know how I'm going to react when he sees me and says something."

"When I stopped by their place yesterday, he could barely look at me. I had to be the one to break the ice and after a few minutes and a couple of jokes, he was the same old Nick. He just needed to know that nothing changed."

"But it has!" Warrick nervously laughed. "He's sleeping with Sanders, that's a** huge** change in my book, Cath. Not only do I have to deal with the knowledge that my best friend of eight years is gay, I have to cope with the imagery of him giving it to Greg of all geeks."

"What makes you think he's doing all the giving? Lots of gay couples take turns in the driver's seat." Seeing the horror in her man's eyes, Catherine said, "Is that the face you don't want him to see?"

"Yeah."

"I don't blame you." She playfully shook him to his senses. "Grow up! Boys kiss. It's no big deal."

"I know!" Warrick covered his face with his hands. "I don't want to make the face!" He laughed, "It just happens. It's how I was raised. Boys don't play hide the salami in the hood. Well, I'm sure some of them do, but they sure as hell don't talk about it."

"Come on." Catherine tossed off the covers. "The sooner you see him and get it behind you, the better."

"Behind?"

She snickered, "Humor is the way to go with this. Just look for an opportunity to **crack** a joke that says 'no ifs ands or **buts**, you're still great friends'. Once he knows that you're still buds, you quietly and respectfully tell the cowboy that whatever happens on Brokeback Mountain is his business and you don't need the details. He'll be fine with that arrangement, trust me."

"You think?"

"No doubt in my mind."

* * *

"Having second thoughts?" Greg asked his significant other when he found him leaning against his truck in the Lab's parking lot. 

"What? No." Nick anxiously replied, "I was just waitin' on you before goin' in. Where were you?"

Greg held up two Venti cups. "Starbucks, remember?"

"Right, right." Nick pulled in a healthy dose of night air.

"Coffee of the day, cream, no sugar, right?" When his partner nodded, Greg handed over the cup. "See, I know my guy. I know how he takes his coffee…I know he's worried about how people are going to look at him after his freak out on the job…I know he's worried that he's going to get the worst case imaginable on the first night back and have a relapse, and I know he worries way too much. You're gonna be fine, Cletus, and the sooner you get in that building, the sooner you'll prove it."

"Thanks for the kick in the ass." The nervous CSI lifted his cup. "And for the coffee."

"Let's go." Greg started for the door. "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear what Hodges has to say…not."

"He promised he wouldn't tell anyone and after talking with him, I really don't think he'll be an ass."

"But he's always an ass," Greg laughed.

"Except when he saved our lives by figurin' out the coffin would explode if Griss and Warrick pulled me out of it."

Greg's laughter ceased, "Okay, yeah. There's that, that was cool."

"If you think about it, he's technically responsible for our happiness right now."

The perpetual smartass quietly replied, "No, I'm pretty positive you're responsible for my happiness today, not Hodges. That's why I was moaning 'So good, Cowboy' earlier instead of 'So good, Dorkboy'."

Nick shook his head. "You're too much sometimes."

"Really?" Greg caught his lover's eye, "Because I can never get enough of you."

"And here I thought I was the romantic one."

When Greg saw his partner's face light up, he sweetly whispered, "Have a great shift, CSI Stokes and if you have a problem while we're not working together tonight, you know I'm just a phone call away."

* * *

"That's my cell," Jillian remarked while at the sink with Jan. Grabbing a dishtowel, she dried her hands on the way to her purse. "It better not be Eileen again. The last time she called, she accused me of turning Injun." 

"Turning Injun?" Jan huffed in disgust.

"You know…livin' with gay men is makin' me think there's nothin' wrong with their lifestyle."

"Yes, I understood **why** she said it, I was just stunned that the degrading phrase was still being uttered in 2007."

Jillian was grateful she had to answer the phone instead of replying.

"I'll give you some privacy." Jan hurried down the hall and into Greg's room. "My in-laws are a bunch of redneck wackos," she muttered while dumping laundry out of her son's hamper. "I can't believe…" She froze when she heard Jillian screaming in the kitchen. "What's wrong?!" She raced for the door. "What's going on?!"

When Jan reached the living room, she saw the 73 year old woman holding her head and clutching the phone to her ear. "What happened?"

"It's my granddaughter, Skye," Jillian replied as the first tears fell from her eyes.

From the look on the woman's face, Jan knew something terrible had happened. "What's wrong?"

"There's been an accident."

"How bad is it?"

* * *

"Things couldn't be better," Nick informed the Assistant Lab Director, who had been exiting the lab just as he was approaching with Greg. "And just like Dr. Henry told ya, I'm ready to get back to work. I even came in early, 'cause I'm excited to get back in the groove." 

"Welcome back." Ecklie had to remind himself not to drool. "The place wasn't the same without you, Stokes." He had more fantasies about the Texan having his way with him than he could count on his hands. His favorite entailed the cowboy wearing skin tight Levis, a plaid flannel shirt, worn cowboy boots and a black Stetson.

_"You wanted to see me, boss?" The cowboy pushed up the brim of his hat to reveal his intense brown eyes. _

_"Come in, Stokes." Ecklie walked around his desk to greet the Texan. "How was your shift?" _

_The CSI removed his hat and wiped his gritty brow. "Hot and dirty, just like I like it." _

"Ecklie?" Nick gave the man a tap on the shoulder. "You seem a little preoccupied."

"Um." Although it was abundantly clear that the Ladies Man was a straight shooter, a guy could dream, especially a guy who had spent one too many decades in the closet. "If there's** anything** you need that you're not getting from Grissom," he dropped a hand on the cowboy's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "you come see me, okay?"

"Uh…" Nick stammered as he bristled from the personal space violation, "Yeah, sure…sounds good, thanks."

_It sounds heavenly actually. _Ecklie reluctantly removed his hand. "And what about you, Sanders?" he snipped, having little tolerance for the sissified Mama's Boy. "How did it go with the family on your emergency vacation?"

"Great, thanks for asking."

"Really?" The suspicious boss wouldn't believe it without evidence. "Got any** pictures** from the occasion?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Since Grissom had warned him that Ecklie would passive-aggressively ask for proof, he pulled two photos from his jacket. "That's us at The Shark Reef together and the second one is us having dinner. We're one big happy family. It's great having a sibling after 32 years as an only child."

"No more time off until the new shift is in place, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Sir."

After sneering at Greg, Ecklie took one last opportunity to ogle Nick. "Stop by my office before you leave in the morning, Stokes. We'll chat about your first night back."

"Sure."

When the weasel was across the parking lot, Greg said, "Holy shit, he was totally cruising you!"

"What?!"

"The way he was looking at you, the shoulder squeeze. The line he laid on you." Greg mocked the man's voice, "If there's anything you need that you're not getting from Grissom…" He burst out laughing, "He think's your gay and hooked up with Grissom. He's trying to woo you away."

"Would you stop! Ecklie's not gay. He's just…weird."

"I'm serious, Cletus. I always had my suspicions about him, because I totally got a 'beard marriage' vibe when he introduced me to his wife a few years ago." Watching Ecklie zip out of the parking lot in his Mercedes convertible, Greg laughed, "Holy Sexual Harassment Suit, Batman! Ecklie wants to lasso my cowboy."

"I refuse to believe you." Nick's whole body cringed. "Because…eww! And it makes no sense, because if he's gay, why did he treat you like shit just now? You seem way gayer than me, so why not come on to you?"

"Duh." Greg released a giddy laugh. "Because he's a Big Nelly Bottom like me, so he's not attracted to me. All magnets are magnets, but some attract and some repel. Just because a guy is gay, doesn't mean he's attracted to every gay man. I'm a turn off, but you're just the top he's looking for."

"I still don't believe you," Nick laughed. "I mean, how many gay guys could be workin' here? What are the odds?"

"The lab is a microcosm and if ten percent of the population is gay, then it's quite possible that ten percent of the lab's population is gay."

"Really? Like who else?"

"Ballistics Bobby for sure."

"No way!" The Texan riotously laughed. "He's an Okie."

"Like there aren't gay people in Oklahoma?" Greg cracked up. "I saw the musical, believe me, those guys were gay with a capital G."

"Twenty bucks says Bobby's not gay."

"I'll take your action."

"I'd say Henry's the only one that's gay for sure."

"Henry's** so** not gay," Greg's laughter returned with a vengeance. "He's a showtune singing Mama's Boy, but he's straight as an arrow."

"Are you kiddin' me?"

Greg plucked a c-note from his wallet. "Not gay."

"The c-note plus two weeks of laundry."

Greg couldn't wait to watch his partner slaving over a hot dryer. "You're on." He started for the front door.

"Wanna keep going?"

"Hell, yes! Your gaydar sucks and I need spending money."

"Gaydar?" Nick rolled his eyes.

"What about Archie?" Greg asked while walking into the building.

"Not gay," Nick answered without hesitation. "He's dished about a couple of girls over the years."

"So have you." Greg weighed the evidence as he strolled into the locker room. "I'd say he's Bi leaning straight."

"What the…" Nick stood gaping at the flaming pink sign on his locker. "Fabulous?"

"Hodges," Greg droned.

"He's not gay," Nick huffed as his blood boiled, "he's a dead man."

* * *

"She could have died." Jillian wiped her eyes, but fresh tears kept coming. Sitting on the couch with Jan holding her hand, she said in a shaky voice, "Skye's best friend, Annie, told my daughter that she was terrified about the pregnancy and didn't want the baby. She didn't want to marry at 18 and she didn't want to lose out on Paris or Harvard. Annie offered to take her for an abortion, but she said Skye refused, sayin' that if her mother found out, she'd kick her out of the house, just like her cousin Roy was thrown out for bein' gay." 

Jan handed over another clump of tissues.

"Her plan was to go for a ride on her horse and pretend it got spooked. She thought the fall would make her lose the baby like it did women on soap operas." Jillian's voice shook as he tried to make sense of it all as she retold the story. "Annie is goin' to A&M for pre-med and she says she warned her that it was too dangerous, that she could hemorrhage while losin' the baby or ruin her chances for children in the future, but she said Skye was adamant that she'd rather take a chance at preservin' the future she wanted, than to be stuck livin' one she didn't." Resting her head on Jan's shoulder, she said, "She thought she was in a soft pasture, but there were hidden rocks and when she threw herself off the horse, she smacked her head on one of them. Luckily Annie had her phone to call 911." Sobbing against the woman's sweater, she squeaked, "They had to drill holes in her head to relieve the pressure from the bleeding and they don't know if there's brain damage or…"

"Did she lose the baby?" Jan asked in a whisper as she hugged the devastated grandmother tight.

Jillian nodded. "And while everyone was at the hospital waitin' to hear if Skye would make it, there was a huge blow up over Nicky. Chuck said somethin' horrible and Gwen started yellin' at him and of course the twins jumped to his defense in the name of the Lord. In the heat of the moment, Gwen confessed that she had been in drug rehab for a month, not on a business trip like she and her husband had told us. She said that Nicky had given her the money to go and to pay off the bills that had piled up because of her wipin' out the savings account to feed her habit. She couldn't stand there and listen to Chuck say her brother was worthless when he meant the world to her and her family."

"I think I'm going to like Gwen."

"People had come from church to show their support and they heard everything…Skye pregnant, Nicky gay, and Gwen a recoverin' addict. We aren't the perfect Stokes family anymore." Clutching her throbbing head, she asked, "Why are so many members of my family fallin' apart?"

"Contents under pressure are bound to explode," Jan softly replied. "Perfection is too high of a standard, Jillian, it's too much. When Greg was five he was declared a prodigy and we were invited to join this special group for exceptional children and their parents. Dave and I took him and we immediately bought in to the insanity. Within a month's time we had Greg in piano lessons, violin lessons, doing math and science clubs for child prodigies. We were desperate to get him speaking a second foreign language, because it seemed that all the other kids spoke at least three fluently and Greg only spoke English and Norwegian. Not long after that, Disney tunes were replaced by classical music and his bike gathered dust, because he had to play chess with his tutor every day for an hour."

"Did something bad happen?"

"No, thankfully, my father snapped us to our senses. One day, when Greg was sitting at the piano crying because he hadn't been allowed to go swimming all summer, my father scooped him up in his arms and yelled 'the craziness stops now!'" She smiled at the bittersweet memory. "He thought Greg would be better off happy and mediocre than living as a miserable genius. He said 'I'm taking my grandson to the ocean for the day and when we get back, all the flashcards and stupidity better be gone'. He told us he'd sue for custody because he considered what we were doing to be child abuse and he feared that Greg would throw himself off a bridge by the time he was sixteen if things didn't change. He was right. One of the other boys in the group, Brandon Maynard, committed suicide at 16. That could have been Greg if we kept pushing him and making him a freak prodigy instead of letting him have a normal childhood."

"I need to get back to Dallas and the people who really do have problems." Bonding over tears, Jillian said, "I'm not needed here, because there's nothing wrong with Nicky. He's healthy and happy and loved by your son, that's been blatantly obvious the past few days." She lifted her soaked, red eyes to Jan's. "You raised a wonderful son."

"So have you." Jan smiled through her tears. "I know they're going to live happily ever after."

"Is it okay for the mother of the groom to wear off-white at her gay son's commitment ceremony or do the standard wedding rules apply?"

"I think you could wear a paper bag to the ceremony and look amazing in Nick's eyes." Tears of joy streaming from her eyes, Jan said, "Wear anything you want, just be there for your son on the happiest day of his life."

* * *

"This night stinks," Henry lamented when he found out that Mandy had called in sick again. She hadn't returned his phone calls or emails, not even to thank him for the dozen roses he had sent to her house. "I can't believe she's ignoring me." He paced his lab like a caged animal. "No wonder her cats don't like her. She's not nice. I know she's not really sick. She's faking! She's faking because she doesn't want to see me. She knows I have the next two nights off, so I bet she miraculously recovers tomorrow." 

"Hey, Henry," Sara greeted the sweet Toxicologist that always treated her extra nice.

"What do you want, Sidle?!" he snarled.

"Uh…"

"Sorry." Henry dropped onto a stool. "I'm having a bad night."

"Henry!" Nick boisterously greeted the man he knew without a doubt was as gay as the Liberace museum. "What's up, man? Did you miss me?" While Greg waited in silence, Nick tried to get the evidence he needed to win a hundred bucks and two weeks of laundry.

"He's having a bad night," Sara announced. "Don't hassle him unless you want your head bitten off." She pointed to her neck. "I found out the hard way, see the bite marks?"

"I said I was sorry!" the heartbroken man yelled. "I'm having girlfriend problems."

Greg coughed loudly into his fist. "I think I caught what Mandy has." He mouthed 'laundry' at Nick while wishing he had upped the ante to include ironing.

"You caught what Mandy has?!" Henry blurted. "Then you must have a case of liar-itis! Because that's what she has! She's a liar. She's not really sick, she's avoiding me because she regrets sleeping with me not once, but thrice! And you should talk, Mister 'look at the cool bracelet I got from Cletus!' That's right! I overheard you and I know Cletus is Nick and I know you took Mandy on a beard date from hell, and because you did, she got drunk and had revenge sex with me, not once, but thrice!" He shivered. "I feel so used, and I can't believe we didn't use a condom the two out of three times. My mother will kill me if she finds out. She'll be too disgusted to take me on our annual Best of Broadway trip this year." When he saw three gaped-mouth people staring at him, he realized that he had indeed been speaking out loud. After a harsh clearing of his throat, the Tech said, "About those test results on the Stark case." He hurried to retriever the folder. "I've got them right here, Sara."

"Uh…" Sara decided to uncomplicate matters by pretending Henry hadn't been talking out loud.

Greg walked over to his partner and held out his palm. "I'm jonesing for some Red Vines from the vending machine, so I'll take that c-note right about now." He winked, "Laundry included sorting, right? I'll put my hamper in the hallway as soon as I get home."

Nick slapped a hundred dollar bill in his lover's hand.

"Cool." Greg placed his winnings in his wallet and then dug in his pockets for change to buy his Red Vines. "Uh, can I borrow 75 cents, Cletus?"

As Nick opened his hand full of change, Henry knocked over a beaker and startled him. "Shit!" When he jumped, all of his change went flying.

"Finders keepers!" Laughing, Greg dove for the money. "Papa needs a brand new bag of Red Vines!"

"Hey! Save some for me!" Nick raced to pick up his quarters.

"Henry!" Warrick cheerily greeted the Tech as he strolled in. "Do you have…" The sight of Greg on all fours with Nick behind him rendered him momentarily speechless. "Uh…you're swamped. I should come back later."

Waving two work slips, Grissom hurried into the room. "I wondered where everyone was. Nick and Warrick, you have a 419 at The Lava Room."

"Aww! No strip club for me?!" Greg laughed as he jumped to his feet.

Warrick snatched the slip from his boss. "I'll meet you there, buddy!" He bolted while he had the chance.

"Yeah, I guess so," Nick replied to the blur rushing out of the room. "I'll see you later, guys." He trudged out of the room wondering if his friend would ever look him in the eyes again.

"Fear not, Greg," Grissom couldn't contain his grin, "I have something very special for you." He handed over the slip. "B&E at Naughty World, a new adult store set to open next week."

"Yessssss! This is that upscale porn shop opening on the edge of a good neighborhood. They're trying to appeal to the upper-middle-class who won't shop at the dirty places."

Grissom praised his employee, "It's good to know you have your fingers on the pulse of the city, Greg."

"Thanks, boss," the CSI 1 beamed with pride. "I'm your go-to guy for erotica."

"Sara," Grissom cheerily dropped the bomb, "you're with Greg in a tutorial role, because he hasn't had a lot of B&E experience. Let him lead and correct him when necessary. Enjoy!"

"Wait! Why not Catherine?" Sara asked, not wanting to spend hours in an adult entertainment store being entertained by Greg.

"She's busy," he replied while heading for the door.

"Is this about your shoes?!" she yelled as she chased after her boss/lover.

"Hey, Henry," Greg walked over with a friendly smile. "Sorry to hear things didn't go so well with you and Mandy. If there's anything I can do to help…"

"I think you did enough damage already," Henry huffed as he swept up the last of the broken beaker. "You should have told her the truth at the grocery store, not asked her out on a fake date."

"I got painted into a corner and I panicked." Greg quietly explained, "You and I take a lot of shit around here for being lab geeks with questionable sexuality, but in here it's manageable. It's not as easy in the field. I've already taken a ton of abuse from cops for letting myself get beaten to a pulp and they'd have a field day if they found out Nick and I were together. I got scared and I went into self-preservation mode. I didn't mean to hurt Mandy and cause you any residual grief. I honestly thought we'd go out, the date would suck and we'd laugh it off."

"She really liked you," Henry scolded. "You had to know that, because **I **knew." He deflated, "I knew she liked you and was upset that you lied to her and...and...and I slept with her anyway." The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "I'm scum. No wonder she's not talking to me."

"You're not scum." Greg assured the panicked man,."You're like the nicest guy at the lab."

"A nice guy wouldn't have slept with Mandy when she was drunk and desperate."

"Why did you sleep with her?"

"Because I was drunk and desperate," Henry confessed, "and totally, madly in love with her. I have been for years, but I was invisible to her as a man and then suddenly...I wasn't. I couldn't stop myself."

Feeling terrible for the guy, Greg said, "If you think it will help, I'll talk to her. Maybe she's not angry at you, maybe she hates men because I used her and if I apologize, she'll stop taking it out on you."

"You think?"

"It couldn't hurt, right?" With a hopeful lilt in his voice, Greg said, "I'm sure she'll come to her senses and realize you're a great catch."

"Would you date me if I was gay?"

"No." Greg laughed, "Because it would be like dating myself. You're a scientist, you should know opposites attract. And you're a little over-the-top about the show tune thing to be completely honest. That wall of Playbills in your apartment and the pictures of you and your mother outside every theater marquis…not good. The Little Orphan Annie throw pillows…disastrous. Did you ever see the movie Fever Pitch? It's a chick flick about an obsessive Red Sox fan."

"I don't do football movies."

"Red Sox are baseball," Greg laughed, "geeks have to learn this stuff when they go into the field or the cops eat them alive." He headed for the door. "Rent the movie, you'll know why you needed to see it when you're watching it. Try to get Hodges and Archie to watch it with you, because they have the same issue."

"Greg!" Henry sweetly said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about Cletus."

"Thanks, dude." Grinning, Greg held up his cell. "And don't you worry, 'cause The Love Doctor is in da house!"

* * *

**ANs: **

I'm sure The Love Doctor will right the universe LOL or not. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I thought it tied up a lot of loose ends and set up some others to be handled in the next chapter, particularly the Nick and Warrick scene a lot of readers have been asking for.

Sorry for the delayed chapter. I thought it was going to be a quieter week, but it turned out to be my craziest yet.

I hope everyone is having a good week! Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter. I appreciate you still leaving reviews even though I haven't been able to reply every time! LOL I was happy to see that the awkwardness of the boys lackluster love scene was appreciated. I know it wasn't quite up to the pathetic level of Sara and Gil's infamous 'Flu Sex' in baby-making desperation chapter of Feasibility Study that some readers wanted for the guys, but that just means there's still a chance for a worse scenario in the future LOL

**Thanks for reading, **

**Maggs **


	10. Chapter 10: Moments of Truth  Part 2

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 10: Moments of Truth - Part 2**

When his wife returned to their hotel room, Dave muted the TV and asked, "Is she okay?" Upon returning to The Mandalay Bay, Jan had walked Jillian to her hotel room. "You were gone a while. I was starting to worry."

"She's as okay as she can be while waiting to find out if her granddaughter has brain damage." Jan shivered every time she thought of the depressing situation. "To take her mind off things, we chatted about our boys. She's actually excited about the commitment ceremony."

"I wouldn't have thought that possible 24 hours ago."

"Me either. I'm a little disappointed that it can't be on the beach at the Maui house, but it's more important to have her there."

"Did you tell her we'd pay the airfare?"

"It's not the money, she's too afraid to fly over water." Jan took a seat on the suite's couch and nestled into her loving husband's arms. "Remember the wedding Kitty Reno threw for her daughter in Malibu last year? I'm going to see if I can rent that beach house, because Greg loved it. He spent half the reception snooping around the place."

"He wasn't snooping, he was avoiding you, because you were annoying the hell out of him by trying to fix him up with women."

Laughing, she said, "What a colossal waste of my time, huh?"

"Yep."

After a kiss to Dave's cheek, Jan said, "I need to tuck Jenni in for the night."

"She's already asleep." The content father smiled, "You're going to love this. While she was changing and brushing her teeth in the bathroom, I put a glass of ice water on the nightstand for her and turned down the bed. I told her about how whenever I wasn't working late or traveling, I insisted on doing the bedtime routine with Greg, because it was my favorite daddy thing to do. She told me her mom never tucked her in and read her stories like the other kids said their parents did. I assured her that fourteen wasn't too old to be tucked in, that I read to Greg until he was sixteen. Then I grabbed that ratty copy of Harry Potter she cherishes and started reading."

"Aww."

"She was so happy, she cried. Then I cried because she was crying."

"Seriously?" Jan turned to look at her husband. "You never cry." The last time he shed a tear was at the hospital when they saw Greg after the beating.

Stroking his wife's hair, Dave quietly said, "I'm really happy, honey. I loved watching Greg these past few days, seeing the excitement in his eyes when he talks about buying that house with Nick and getting a dog. It's like seeing the fruits of our parenting labor and now we get to do it again…two more times, if all goes well with Cassie's adoption."

"Cassie's caseworker told me the adoption will sail through. She said we have the longest marriage and the largest financial portfolio she's seen in her fourteen years working in Social Services."

"I'm going to take full advantage of this second shot at being an involved father, because I missed way too much with Greg. I wasn't in the right place to be a hands-on dad back then. I had too many demons to conquer to stop and smell the roses." He brushed a kiss over Jan's lips. "But I'm ready now and I think it's going to be just as good for our marriage as it is for the kids. Not every guy gets a chance to relax and enjoy his family like I'll be able to, I'm a lucky man."

"You didn't get it, David, you **earned** it by working your ass off for the last forty years." Jan stood and took her husband's hand. "Since our little girl is sound asleep for the night, let's finish this conversation in the bedroom, shall we?"

"Twist my arm." Happy that he had popped a Levitra fifteen minutes ago, Dave jumped to his feet smirking. "What do you have in mind my naughty little minx?"

* * *

"How do you feel about bondage?" Greg mischievously asked his co-worker while snapping photos of a shattered display case full of S&M items. "Ever try it?" 

"Not my cup of tea," Sara stated as she labeled evidence bags.

"Me either." Greg continued to snap photos. "Joking around with fuzzy handcuffs or a blindfold is fun, but not the hardcore stuff and definitely not the whacked out scenarios being played out at Lady Heather's nightly."

Sara rolled her eyes at the mention of the woman's name. "So all those stories of Liquid Latex and…"

"Lies, all of them." From behind his camera, Greg sweetly admitted, "When it comes to guys, I even saved a certain part of myself for Mr. Right."

Stunned by the revelation, she blurted, "Nick was the first guy you slept with?" Embarrassed for asking the invasive question, she blushed, "I'm so shutting up now. Sorry."

"It's okay," Greg laughed, "Girlfriends are supposed to dish about their boyfriends and trade secrets." Crouching down to get a close up of the broken glass, he said, "Remember the hockey case. You and I had a conversation and you said sex wasn't a game to you. I felt the same way. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of fun doing other things at clubs and on campus, but never trusted anyone enough to let things get that serious, not after getting burned by my almost-fiancée. You know what I mean?"

"Unfortunately, I know exactly what you mean."

"I've been waiting for my safety girl or guy…a person I loved being with and never have to worry about finding them in bed with someone else after making love with me." Glancing up, Greg smiled, "Can you relate?"

"Perfectly." Feeling comfortable enough to get personal, she quietly asked, "Even with your safety guy, there are still moments of insecurity, right? It's not always perfect, is it?"

"Uh…you heard our imperfections through the wall at The Coast Hotel, remember?"

"Right." She shifted her eyes to the floor. "I got really unnerved listening to the two of you fight, because that kind of raw anger clashes with some of my baggage. It was weird though…at the same time I didn't want to be you, I was incredibly jealous that you could fling all that emotion out there and risk everything to fight for the relationship you wanted. It takes guts to stick around and work things out, because the easiest thing to do is walk away."

"You should have been in Catalina for round two," he said while snapping photos and shaking off the bad memory. "Nick got a call from his sister and he totally freaked and decided to throw in the towel. I was completely blissed out thinking we were going to have a great day and he blindsided me. I don't do well with surprise betrayals, so it got real ugly, real fast. I practically threw him overboard. You know how they say the darkest hour is before the dawn? That's how it went, one minute I was losing everything, including my mind, and then there he was…giving me everything I ever wanted and more."

"This is so not the conversation I thought we'd be having at Naughty World." Sara returned her gaze to her friend. "I was expecting very immature discourse about edible underwear and blow up dolls."

"I'm gonna get to that, don't worry." He winked. "I'm growing up, but I'll always be part goofball."

"Good." She held open an evidence envelope for him. "Because life wouldn't be the same without you and your goofballishness."

He responded by living up to his reputation and grabbing a jar of chocolate body paint from a shelf. "Ever use this?"

"Can't say that I have," she chuckled.

"It's delicious, nutritious, and really augments the giver's experience, if you catch my drift." He wiggled his brows. "Trust me, I have a Ph.D in oral gratification."

"Is** that** why Nick was able to chill out in record time?"

"Duh, of course!" he half-joked.

Opening another evidence bag, Sara said, "And now I'm desperately trying to block the image of what we're discussing."

"Kind of freaky, huh?" He bent down to lift a print off the case.

"A little bit, yeah. Not because I'm homophobic in any way, it's awkward because you're Greg and Nick…you're my friends and my pseudo-brothers." She laughed, "No girl wants to think of her pseudo-brothers being naked together."

"It's like the first time I thought about you and Griss doing it. Yuck."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but…" he winked, "no guy wants to think of his pseudo-dad boinking his fantasy girl. But if it's any consolation, you looked hot when I was envisioning you naked, almost as hot as you did that day in our decontamination shower."

"I thought you said you didn't peek."

"Ha!" He slapped his thigh while he riotously laughed, "I can't believe you bought that lie. Of course I looked! I'm a scientist for crying out loud. After I had been undressing you in my mind for years, I had to check and see if I had deducted correctly."

"Were you as disappointed as I was when you saw the real deal?"

"Oh!"

"Sounds like a party in here," Vartann stated as he walked toward the laughing CSIs.

"What are you doing at a B&E?" Sara asked the Homicide Detective.

Greg's smile faded when he saw Vartann staring him down.

"Dawson Kent, the owner of this fine preppy porn shack was just found dead in his home. Shot five times at close range."

"The plot thickens," Sara remarked to her co-worker while grabbing her cell. "I'll let Grissom know. Be right back."

"Haven't seen you in a while, Sanders." The Detective postured before the pretty boy. "I thought the pressure finally got to you."

"Sorry to disappoint you and your cronies, but I was gone for a week at a conference and then I took a little vacation time for a family matter, my parents adopted Jenni Riley, the girl I found in the ravine at that bus crash a couple of months ago."

"No shit, really?"

"Pretty cool, huh?"

The detective stepped closer, lowering his voice to a husky whisper, "I heard McKeen accused you of coming on to that kid."

"No, some stupid nurse with a grudge against me did."

"Yeah, she'd have to be pretty friggin' stupid to think you were chasing a skirt," the deeply closeted man replied, hoping for the confirmation he had been seeking for years. Every time he thought he knew for sure, he'd see Sanders flirting with Sidle or a stripper and think he had it all wrong.

Locking eyes, Greg calmly asked, "What's that supposed to mean, Detective?"

Vartann's hunger for the deliciously delicate CSI grew stronger every time he saw him. "You know exactly I mean." This time the fantasy was so rich, he could feel himself gripping the submissive man's mop of golden brown hair as it bobbed in front of his hips.

Greg rolled his eyes and walked over to his kit for more supplies. "I get it, it's a slow night and you haven't run into any obese women or homeless guys to pick on, so I'm filling the gap. Lucky me."

"Sounds like I hit a nerve," Vartann commented as he enjoyed the rear view even more than the front.

Bent over grabbing another jar of print powder, Greg calmly asked, "Why don't you ever say this shit in front of Sara or Grissom? Oh, right, because then I'd have witnesses to the harassment."

"You think that's why?" The guy had it all wrong.

"I know that's why." Greg walked over to the counter and began dusting.

"Nice technique," Vartann needled, "it's all in the wrist, isn't it?" Laughing, he held up a limp right hand. "Yeah, I bet having a loose wrist helps a lot." He stepped behind the CSI and peered over his shoulder. "I'm very impressed with your technique, Nancy."

"Fuck off," Greg snapped, realizing he was cornered against the counter.

"Aww, why don't you like my queer jokes, Sanders? Hmm?"

Getting twitchy from the physical threat, the former victim looked over his shoulder and authoritatively said, "You're invading my personal space, Detective."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

Their eyes locked, Vartann boldly pressed his body closer and made his future intentions clear.

"Is that your gun in my ass?" Greg asked as his heart hammered in his chest.

"No."

"I didn't think so." _And I told Nick his gaydar sucks! _

"I think you should send Sara back to the Lab with some evidence. Then you and I can have a private chat about the case in the back office." Vartann smirked as he continued jabbing at the surprised man's ass. "A long, hard chat." When he used the same lines with Ecklie, they worked like a charm.

The beep of a police two-way radio startled both men and ended the staring contest.

"Vartann," the anxious detective barked into his radio.

Greg was thrilled to see Sara returning. "I got some prints!" he yelled over to her. "Come here." When she was at his side, he whispered, "I'm going to ask you to leave, but don't." He raised his voice, "Sara, can you rush these prints back to the lab?" He returned to a panicked whisper, "I'll explain later, just please don't leave me alone with him."

* * *

Although Warrick had been working side by side with Nick at The Lava Room for forty minutes, the presence of the Coroner precluded them from getting personal. 

"Thanks, SuperDave," Nick waved at his co-worker who was wheeling the DB out on a stretcher. "We'll see you in autopsy after we check the vic's apartment."

"Take your time, we're swamped. She won't be on my slab for hours."

Alone in the club manager's office with his gay pal, Warrick knew the moment of truth had finally arrived. "So…"

"I don't think we're looking at a drug overdose, man." Nick shook his head. "Yeah, she died from OD'ing, but I don't think she knew what she was taking, not after talkin' to her friends and co-workers. I think someone drugged her on the sly. Maybe someone didn't like her makin' the most money in the house and gettin' fawned over. Some of these girls are vicious competitors."

"That's your bleedin' heart talking." Warrick looked at the soiled spot where the stripper's body used to be. "She was a party girl who got carried away partying and lost track of what she had taken."

"You care to back up that statement?" It was just like old times. "My murdered girl against your party girl? Fifty?"

Warrick replied with his customary line, "You know I don't get out of bed for less than a bill."

"Now that you're hooked up with Catherine, I'm surprised you get out of bed at all." Nick laughed, "I was surprised you got into bed with her too, 'cause you swore up and down that you'd never it get that far, because it would mess up things at work."

Remembering his girlfriend's advice about cracking a joke if the opportunity arose, Warrick quipped, "Yeah, well…you said you liked banging chicks, but you're sharing a bed with Sanders." He immediately averted his eyes. "Cath told me to break the ice with a joke, but if that wasn't funny…"

"It was." Nick chuckled, "I really shouldn't be throwin' stones about inner-office dating."

Warrick anxiously cleared his throat. "For the record, I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks, man."

"I wish I found out a different way than…"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Nick sobered, "It all happened pretty fast, but I was gonna tell you as soon as I figured out how to say it. Kinda shocking, huh?"

"Yeah," Warrick didn't lie.

"Hell, it was a shock to me too."

"The shock is starting to wear off a little." The supportive friend lifted his gaze to make eye contact for the first time since discovering the truth. "I think it would be easier if it was some guy I didn't know, but it's Greggo and that's…it's a little out there for me just yet, but it'll be cool, and I'm…I'm cool with you bein' gay." He tried to eliminate the tension in his voice. "Cath said to tell you that whatever happens on Brokeback Mountain is none of my business and I don't want any details. That sounded good in theory, but standing in front of you, it feels wrong to say that I don't want to know about half your life. It feels like I'm saying what you're doing is wrong and shameful."

"According to 95 of my family it is. Most of them will only talk to me to tell me I'm goin' to hell. You haven't condemned me to burn, so you're doin' great in my books, buddy."

Realizing Catherine was right and Nick really was the same person, Warrick smiled at his friend. "If hell's full of people like you, then I'll be spending eternity in damn good company."

"Thanks, man." Normally Nick would have given his friend a pat on the arm, but he refrained, thinking it would be awkward. "And as far as sharin' details goes…Cath's been like a sister to me, so I don't want hear the nitty gritty about you guys either. How about we keep things general instead of gettin' down and dirty like when we were playin' the field?"

"Sounds good to me."

"So, we're cool then?"

"Yeah."

"Great."

"Okay."

After two minutes of working in awkward silence, Nick casually announced, "I'm the top."

"Yeah, I was pretty sure." Warrick burst into a grin. "Cath's an animal in bed."

"Yeah, I was pretty sure." Laughing, Nick pulled out his car keys. "I'll meet you at Murdered Girl's house in twenty."

"No, I'll meet you at Party Girl's house in thirty, 'cause I'm gonna stop for burgers at In and **Out **to celebrate your new status."

"Cool!" Nick winked, "Make mine **animal** style in honor of your new girlfriend."

* * *

"Have you talked to Mandy yet?" Henry whispered into his cell. "Do I have a girlfriend or not?" 

"Sorry, she didn't answer," Greg replied. "I left her a voicemail. Maybe she doesn't keep the same schedule when she's not working and she's sleeping instead of being up at 3am."

"No, she told me that she always stays on schedule because it's too hard to adjust."

"Sara and I will be tied up here for at least another three hours, but if I don't hear from Mandy by then, I'll stop by her place. Okay?"

"Okay," Henry moped.

"Stay chilled and have faith in the Love Doctor."

* * *

"The doctors believe Skye will make a full recovery," Jillian told Jan as she stood in the door of her hotel room at six am. "I just hung up from telling Nicky. I told him about changing my flight and we said our goodbyes over the phone since he's in the middle of case at work." 

"Thank goodness your granddaughter will be alright." Jan hugged her newest friend.

"I'm on my way down to the lobby for a taxi to the airport, but wanted to say thank you for helpin' me yesterday and to give you this paper with my phone number and email address. I want to continue helpin' plan the commitment ceremony and reception."

* * *

"Will I be invited?" Sara asked as she walked into Paradise Bakery with Greg. 

"Of course." Greg joked, "You wanna be my Maid of Honor?"

"Do I have to wear a frosty pink taffeta gown?"

"Hell no, we're going barefoot on the beach at sunset."

"That I can do." Sara glanced up at the menu posted on the wall. "You were kidding about the Maid of Honor thing, right?"

"Yeah. Nick and I wanted to keep it really simple, but my mom told Jenni and Cassie they could be bridesmaids and we just found out that Nick's 4 year old niece Kayla is going to be a flower girl. Jenni is going to have my ring for Nick and Cassie is going to have Nick's ring for me."

"How are you going to explain wearing matching wedding bands without coming out?"

"My mother hasn't gotten to that part of the plan yet," he laughed. "What do you want for breakfast?" Greg held up his wallet. "It's on me."

Waving a crisp one hundred dollar bill, Warrick said, "Breakfast is on me. Unless you're too pissed from losing our bet to break bread with me."

"I'll have to take a raincheck." Nick shut his locker. "I already made plans." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hodges. "Hey! Get in here, **pal**."

The Trace Tech had successfully avoided the CSI for the entire shift until now. "If it's about the Doug's Diner case, I…"

"No." Nick shook his head. "It's about that flaming pink sign you hung on my locker."

"I'll handle this clown," Warrick informed his best friend. "You have plans."

"Thanks, 'Rick." Nick enjoyed the fear in the Tech's eyes. "See ya, Hodges. Well, assuming you survive."

The geek's pulse notched as the muscular CSI loomed over him.

"That wasn't cool what you did."

"I…um…"

Warrick narrowed his eyes. "From now on you're gonna keep your mouth shut and your hot pink markers capped, right?"

"Y…yes."

"Good answer."

"I was just trying to be one of the guys and joke around."

"Yeah, but you're not one of the guys." Warrick shut his locker. "And you're never gonna be if you keep pullin' shit like that sign. Nick and Greg's personal lives are off limits. Got it?"

"Loud and clear."

* * *

"I know you can hear me, Mandy," Greg said through the door. "Come on, I brought you breakfast. I even brought options…four kinds of muffins, two pastries, a couple of bagels, and an egg sandwich." He softened his voice, "Please open the door so I can look you in the eyes and apologize." 

"What kind of muffins?"

"Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Banana Walnut, and Lemon Poppy Seed." Greg smiled when he heard the twisting of locks.

"You had me at Chocolate Chip," Mandy said while waving in the unexpected guest. Dressed in floral flannel pajamas and a fluffy raspberry robe, she wasn't expecting to entertain. "I look like a wreck and so does my apartment."

"Contrary to gay stereotypes, I'm not a neat freak, and even though you're a rumpled mess, you look adorable." He handed over the two bags of food. "Thanks for giving me a chance to apologize."

"You only got a chance because I'm starving." She trudged into the kitchen for plates and napkins. "Which one are you eating?"

"No, it's all for you. I chowed a bagel dog on the drive over." While his friend meticulously peeled the wrapper from her muffin, he walked over and quietly said, "I'm really sorry I lied to you and used you. When you saw us in the grocery store, I panicked, because Nick had only come out the week before and he was terrified of being found out. When you love someone as much as I love him, you'll do anything to protect him. That's all I was trying to do. I never thought I'd hurt you. I figured we'd go out, have a sucky time and I'd look pathetic. I figured you'd be laughing your ass off at me with Wendy for months. I never thought you'd feel bad or take your anger at me out on Henry."

"Is that what he told you I'm doing?" she asked with a mouthful of muffin. "Wait…he told you what happened?"

"The guy's crazy about you and he's heartbroken. He needed someone to talk to and get advice from. He told me what happened."

"Oh!" She covered her eyes with her hands. "How much detail did he give you?"

"Not much and he didn't mean to give any, but he was so out of his head, he blurted things."

"What kind of things?" she asked through her parted fingers.

"That you guys did it um…thrice and two of the times you didn't use anything." Slipping into big brother mode he said, "I know you were trashed and emotional, but you shouldn't have had unprotected sex with Henry. You shouldn't have unprotected sex with anyone. Even though a guy is sweet and clean cut, you never know if he's carrying something. Even the best people have momentary lapses in judgment. You're proof of that, right? Safe sex isn't an option, it's a requirement. If you don't have a condom, there are plenty of other ways to have fun."

"I thought you were here to apologize, not lecture me."

"Sorry," he flustered. "A good friend of mine died of AIDS, so it's a sensitive issue for me. He was in a committed relationship and never thought his partner would cheat on him, but the guy had a one night stand and never told him. But I honestly don't think you have to worry about anything. Henry assured me he's clean as a whistle and he said you're on birth control pills, so…" When she turned her gaze to the floor, Greg asked, "Did you lie to him about being on the pill?"

"Not exactly," she confessed, "I said I took birth control pills, I just didn't say that I had **stopped** taking them years ago."

"Mandy Lynn Webster!" he shouted in the voice of Jan Sanders. "How could you do that?!"

"I know! I know!" Tears formed in her eyes. "I was just so tired of being lonely. All my sisters are happily married with kids and more on the way. I'm the loser of the family."

"You're not a loser." He took her in his arms. "You're smart and funny and cute."

"Puppies are cute, I don't want to be cute, I want to be sexy and beautiful."

"Henry thinks you're sexy and beautiful."

"I know I just got done saying I was desperate and lonely, so this will sound terrible," she sniffled into her friend's chest, "but Henry's so…"

"Gay?" Greg laughed. "But he's really not. He's just a Mama's Boy who loves musicals waaaaaay too much. But I really think there's hope for him."

"This hug feels so nice," she whimpered. "Is there any chance you're Bi?"

"I am Bi actually, but it's not a casual thing with Nick." He laughed, "I'm his bitch and you don't want to get in the way, because he's a territorial guy."

* * *

Sitting in a booth across from Nick, Vartann said, "Thanks for the invite." It had been a few months since they had one of their breakfast and blackjack outings after work. 

"You're welcome." Nick stirred his coffee with a smile.

"Did you have a good first night back?"

"Most of it was good."

"You shouldn't feel bad about your flip out, man. We all want to bash the shit out of baby killers. Cops won't look at you funny, they'll respect you for getting that close to offing the bastard."

"Yeah, a few of 'em said as much tonight." Nick tapped his spoon on the side of his mug and rested it on his napkin. "How's the family?"

"The kids are great, but my wife is driving me to drink. All she does is nag and bitch about what we don't have."

"What don't you have?"

"You name it."

"Greg," Nick calmly stated with his eyes fixed on Vartann's.

"What?" The detective's heart skipped a beat.

"You heard me."

Vartann tried to laugh it off. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Placing his steel-toe boot firmly against the bastard's crotch, Nick coolly said, "I'm only going to say this once, so listen up."

Vartann gasped for a breath as his balls were crushed against the hard wood booth.

"If you **ever** lay a hand or any other body part on Greg again, I'll shove this boot so far up your ass you'll be tasting leather for a week. He's not yours to touch," the possessive boyfriend snarled, "I don't even want you to look him in the eyes going forward. If you have to talk to him on the job, you'll do it respectfully and from an appropriate distance. Do we have an understanding?" He pressed harder.

"I swear I didn't know," Vartann grimaced as his face turned red.

"Now you do." Nick returned his foot to the ground. "Take my advice…get some therapy, man, you're only hurting yourself and your family by living a lie. Dr. Henry at LVPD will be very sympathetic to your situation."

With his hand cradling his throbbing crotch, Vartann snarked, "Okay, Oprah."

Wearing a cocky smirk, Nick stood and fished his keys out of his pocket, "If you'll excuse me, I'm goin' home to have breakfast in bed."

* * *

"Bruno! I'm home!" Sara called out on approach to the dog crate. "Hey." She unlocked the door and let her pooch tackle her to the floor with kisses. "I missed you too." 

After showing his love, the boxer raced to the front door.

"Gotta go, huh?" She grabbed his leash from the hook. "Yeah, I always have to go as soon as I wake up too. Lately it seems that I'm going all the time. I'm like one of the pregnant women at the Lab." She stopped dead in her tracks. "No way. I just had my period last week." But it had barely come and then uncharacteristically disappeared in less than a day. "No." She laughed, knowing she was letting her imagination run away.

"Let's go, boy!" Still laughing, she walked outside with her dog.

"Morning!" A pregnant woman cheerily greeted her neighbor while power walking down the sidewalk.

"Morning," Sara replied while trying to convince herself it wasn't a sign_. It was one time_, she scolded her runaway mind. _Getting pregnant the one time you have unprotected sex only happens on soap operas. _When she saw a mother pushing twins in a stroller, her panic returned."Bruno, we need to go to the drug store and do something before your Daddy gets home."

* * *

"I'm home!" Nick announced from his position leaning in his bedroom doorway. Curled up in bed reading a Harry Potter book, Greg looked even more vulnerable than he had sounded when he called about Vartann... 

_"He wants to **what**?!" Nick yelled into his cell. "Are you sure?" _

_"Uh, yeah! He cornered me against the counter at the scene and then he pressed his hard-on into my ass! Then he told me to get rid of Sara and meet him in the back office for a **long, hard **chat. It was a total power play, the stuff rape fantasies are made of!" _

_"Calm down." _

_"That's a little hard to do when the guy who wants to bend me over has a gun!" _

_"G! Hey! G, listen…" Nick softened his voice, "I'll take care of it." _

With his IPod turned up, the edgy man hadn't heard the front door or the alarm chime. "You scared me, Cletus." He tugged off his headphones and nervously asked, "How did it go with Asshat?"

"Mission accomplished." Nick took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"You're sure?"

"110 percent."

His lover's steady gaze convincing him, Greg finally relaxed. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me." Nick stroked his partner's cheek with his thumb. "No one is going to do that shit to you and get away with it."

Greg threw back the covers. "Come to bed." He tossed his book and IPod. "What are you waiting for, take it off, cowboy."

"I'm waitin' on stripper music?" Nick joked, happy to see a smile on his partner's face.

Greg flipped on the bedside boom box. "Better?"

"No, strippin' to Marilyn Manson is so not my style." Laughing, Nick rushed to remove everything, but kept his briefs since his bedmate was wearing boxers. "Okay, please turn off that so called 'music'."

After clicking the power button, Greg lunged for the nightstand for supplies.

"Not necessary." Nick grabbed his lover's hand as it dove into the drawer. "That's the last thing I want to do after protecting you."

Greg stared in confusion. "Huh?"

"I just want to love you."

"So why can't we…"

"Because…" Their eyes meeting, Nick quietly said, "That's not about love."

"How is sex not about love?"

"C'mere."

"I'm totally confused."

"Maybe this'll help." Nick filled his perplexed partner's mouth with a passionate kiss while pressing their bodies together from head to toe.

"It's definitely helping," Greg said with a smile. In the arms of the man who would always fight to protect him, he felt desired and loved and safe, incredibly safe.

"I got a huge rush when I confronted that bastard."

The grateful boyfriend nipped at his lover's ear lobe while murmuring, "What did you tell him?"

Rolling them onto their sides, Nick let his hand drift over the posterior of his partner's soft cotton boxers. "I told him your ass wasn't his to touch."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Nick dispensed information in between wet, sloppy kisses to Greg's neck and chest. "I stared him down…and told him…if he ever touched you again…I'd shove a boot so far up his ass…he'd taste leather…I told him I didn't even want him to make eye contact with you."

Greg's mind and body flooded with desire upon hearing the possessive words. "What else did you say?"

"I told him if he had to talk to you at work, he better damn well do it from a safe distance."

Greg pawed at his lover's briefs, tugging them down and removing them with a push of his foot.

To even things up, Nick removed his impatient lover's boxers. "Mmm. I always love that first brush."

"Me too."

"I couldn't wait to get home to you."

Greg was still focused on the confrontation. "How did you leave it with Asshat?"

"I told him I was going home to have breakfast in bed with you." Their bodies grinding in a slow dance, Nick said, "He was so friggin' jealous. Of course he was, who wouldn't want to be with you? You're irresistible." While engaged in a fevered kiss, he reached down and wrapped his hand around their equally energized anatomy. "Read about this in that ridiculous how-to book when we were on The Freyja." Locking his gaze on his lover's wild eyes, he confessed, "Been dyin' to give it a try. It said alignment of the top two inches is critical. What do you think?"

The always enthusiastic lover shuddered with pleasure. "I'd say you got it just right, cowboy."

After nudging Greg onto his back, Nick angled over him and found the perfect rhythm. "I love lookin' directly in your eyes." He raided Greg's open mouth, exploring every inch with his tongue. "Sometimes I hate that I can't reach your lips during sex." He returned to devour him a second time. "I love kissin' you," he confessed in a sexy whisper. Emotionally charged intimacy was exactly what the starving romantic had been craving. "I love you, G." Their raunchy romps were satisfying and fun, but they never quite touched his heart. "Can you tell how much?" He desperately wanted him to know.

Greg stopped swooning long enough to form a coherent answer, "Absolutely."

After a few minutes of steadily escalating moans, Nick rasped into his groaning lover's ear. "Do you like this, baby?" It felt like making love more than any of the sex they had thus far.

"God yes!" The aural stimulation was as good as the physical. "Keep talking, I'm liking that too."

Foreheads pressed together as they squirmed in perfect harmony, Nick passionately huffed, "No one will **ever** love you like I do."

Close to the edge, a gasp prefaced the reply, "No one."

His body on fire, the territorial jock prodded, "Mmm, who takes care of you, baby?"

Frantically pulling in oxygen, Greg struggled to reply, "You do…so good…so god damn good."

"You think Vartann could make your toes curl like I do?"

"Hell no."

When he saw his partner nearing the brink, Nick pleaded, "Wait."

Greg replied through clenched teeth. "Can't." His whole body trembled from desperately trying to delay the inevitable.

"Try."

"Really..." The consistently quick finisher envied his adept lover's control.

"Okay, baby," Nick sweetly replied when he knew it was a lost cause.

Primal sounds and fractured words were frenetically exchanged as they rushed to the finish line together. Then, eyes closed, noses and mouths erratically bumping, they clung to each other until the last drop of passion spilled onto their overheated flesh.

"That was…" Brushing back his sweaty hair, Greg laughed at the ridiculousness of the ecstasy. "That was insanely fantastic."

It took all of Nick's remaining energy to nod and crash onto his back.

"That how-to book just earned a higher place on the shelf."

"Shit, I…" Nick desperately pulled oxygen through his nose.

"Even the jock got a workout," Greg joked as he dug in the sheets for his discarded boxers.

Breathing steady again, Nick said, "I just realized we have your mother to thank for that book and consequently, the ecstasy."

"Eww."

"Yeah, let's pretend elves left the book."

"Wouldn't fairies be more appropriate considering the subject matter?" Greg doused his lover with grateful kisses while affectionately wiping away the evidence of their passion with his boxer shorts. "I love you. That was incredibly hot and erotic and passionate and insert every word that means you rocked my world like it's never been rocked before. Did I mention I love you? That was borderline Tantric."

"What do you know about Tantric Sex, G?"

"Only what I've read in books," the geek answered in a laugh. "And I saw the movie Kama Sutra. Did I tell you I love you?"

"Yes, and I'm lovin' the way you're lookin' at me." With his palm on his partner's flushed cheek, Nick softly asked, "Now do you understand why I didn't want to have sex?"

"Yeah." Greg's smile faded. "Actually, no, I don't. I'm still confused about that."

Facing his partner, Nick explained, "Maybe it's different for other gay guys in relationships, but to me, even though we're a couple and we're totally committed to each other, that act is still all about physical gratification and power."

"What?"

"It's totally about feeling dominant and submissive for us, not love. Two seconds after I told you I handled Vartann for you, you felt compelled to dive for a condom so you could play bitch to my alpha male. I wasn't in the mood for that this morning, because I didn't want to take advantage of your vulnerability."

Trying to figure out where the concern came from, Greg asked, "Let me guess, Warrick made some top and bottom jokes and you felt bad again."

"No," Nick sweetly laughed. "It was about me cravin' somethin' more than aggressive sex. I wanted to make love with you, not manhandle you."

"I totally get what you're saying and I completely agree that what we just experienced was beyond intense, **but **I think you're projecting your negative feelings about bottoming onto me. I really regret switching roles, because now you can't get that negativity out of your head and it's turning you off of sex."

"Believe me, I'm not turned off about sex," Nick laughed, "not at all. I just don't associate the sex we've been having with feelings of love. We can do crazy shit **because** we love and trust each other, but playin' Dex and Jocko in the shower isn't me makin' love to you. I don't associate that with romantic love at all."

"Why?"

"Because it's an aggressive act and I can't feel romantic when I'm dominating and hurting you."

"But you're not hurting me," Greg said in exasperation. "We've already been through this."

"G…" Nick laughed, "maybe hurt isn't the right word, but you can't look me in the eyes and say that it's not **at least** mildly uncomfortable part of the time. I see you grippin' the bedding or the towel rack. Hell, you have to contort yourself like a pretzel to kiss me sometimes. Why can't you admit there's some discomfort?"

"Okay, fine, there are **moments** of discomfort even with a skilled partner such as yourself, but it's offset by the pleasure."

"I thank you for the compliment and the honesty."

"You hate it, but I enjoy it - for whatever reason." Greg laughed, "Let's blame my mother."

After laughing with his still-confused lover, Nick continued, "Even though** you** enjoy it and associate it with love,** I **don't consider it a loving activity. I've not once been behind you thinkin' about how much I love you, all I think about is how good it feels physically and what a trip it is to be in charge. After we're done, I don't feel equal to you, I feel like I just finished showin' you who's boss. I was never conflicted like this when I did it with women, because love never factored in, it truly was always about me dominating them - wham, bam, thank you for lettin' me in the backdoor, ma'am."

"Maybe you're messed up because you've had sex without love your whole life?" Greg posited. "Maybe you were giving it to women in anger because you were abused by a woman, so it's hard to make it about love now."

"I really don't think so, but I'll ask my gay shrink," Nick chuckled. "Maybe if we handled the sex differently sometimes, if we went real slow and tried to make it romantic, but the way **you **like it, ya little perv…I half expect you to ask for a dog collar for Christmas."

Greg barked.

"Yeah, Rover," Nick ruffled his hair, "you love to roll over, doncha?" Laughing with his crazy lover, he asked, "How the hell can you expect me to feel romantic when you're talkin' like a porn star or pretendin' that I'm a football player punishing you for dropping the soap in the locker room. Maybe if I was a skilled schizophrenic…"

"Okay, okay." Greg made the time-out sign. "I think I get it. There's hot sex and there's romantic sex and I don't know how to have the latter, because I've spent most of my life playing handball while fantasizing about being manhandled by jocks in the locker room. I'm a horny 17 year old trapped in a 32 year old body making up for lost time."

"Hallelujah! That's exactly it," Nick rejoiced. "I liked the different vibe just now. I think our roles were still the same, but you were my woman, not my bitch," he chuckled. "Seriously, I felt close to you after. I felt like we shared somethin' special and the way you looked at me after was drastically different than how you look at me after you've been my bitch. After we have sex, I feel like the king of the world, but you're always spent and headed to the bathroom to clean up. You never look at me like you did just now, all fired up and tellin' me you loved me a half dozen times. True?"

"True."

"I'm not Vartann, I don't just want your ass in bed, I want your heart and soul too. Not every time," Nick laughed, "Playin' porn star with you is fun and I may even get you that dog collar, but I'm a romantic guy and sometimes I'm gonna want to break out the candles and champagne."

"What color collar?" Greg mischievously asked. "Rhinestones or studs?"

"I don't want to ruin the surprise." Nick playfully smacked his partner's ass. "Enough talk, I'm hungry. Normally I feel guilty askin' you to make breakfast after havin' my way with you, but you can get your untouched ass in the kitchen today."

"Is **that** why you always volunteer?"

Nick winked, "One of your Denver omelets will do just fine, sweetheart."

"You got it." Greg slipped out of bed and padded to the dresser for a fresh pair of boxers. "I really do feel different."

"Yeah, you're not walkin' funny." Nick grinned as he lunged for the remote. "It's The Love, baby!"

* * *

"This pregnancy test is taking forever," Sara anxiously informed her loyal dog as they sat on the living room couch. "We can't have a baby on the way." The more she insisted she wasn't pregnant, the greater her symptoms became. "Do my boobs look bigger to you?" She checked her profile in a wall mirror. "I'm being completely ridiculous. Excess peeing and one light period do not make me pregnant." 

The dog, unlike his owner, wasn't stressed at all. He could barely keep his eyes open.

Checking her watch, Sara griped, "Three minutes has turned into an eternity. We still have…"

The sound of keys in the front door made both owner and pooch jump to their feet.

"Hey, honey." Gil trudged into the room holding a bouquet of wild flowers. "I hate Ecklie, but I love you, so I bought you flowers." One look at his significant other's face and he knew something was up. "What's wrong?"

* * *

**ANs: **

Lots of honesty in this one and a teeny bit of suspense. I hope you enjoyed it and were satisfied with the Warrick and Nick talk as well as Nick getting honest about the dynamics of his sex life. I've been hinting that he had some concerns and he finally voiced them. If a couple's love life is lopsided, it can lead to problems outside the bedroom. Greg is very eager to please (maybe something to do with losing in love twice) and Nick's getting a little unnerved by the uneven balance of power. He's not the kind of guy who takes advantage of people. He wants a healthy relationship in and out of the bedroom.

Oh, Mandy…what to do, what to do. Miserable, and yet she doesn't want to date the geek who loves her because he's not her dream man. It's hard to say if she'd be settling.

If only Grissom knew there was a stick in the bathroom with thirty seconds left on the clock LOL

I'll try to get the next chapter up on Sunday, but I have packed week. Both my sons started a 3 times a week soccer league today. Ahhhhh! As if we didn't have enough on the calendar LOL

Thanks so much for the emails/reviews/comments!! I need the support in these hectic times and I'm trying to at least send a quick reply to everyone. I really appreciate you sticking with me and the story :D

Thanks to KJT for editing on the fly and my hubby and Maryrose for pre-reading!!

**Maggs **


	11. Chapter 11: In a Family Way

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 11:**** In a Family Way**

"Three minutes is up," she said before moving her eyes to the small white stick. "Two lines means pregnant, one line means not pregnant." Staring at the two dark lines, she wondered if she could be misinterpreting the instructions. "Two lines means pregnant." Mandy glanced over at Wendy who had both of her hands clamped over her mouth. "Do you see two lines?"

Wendy nodded.

"Two lines means pregnant." Feeling weak in the knees, Mandy plopped down on the closed toilet. "Do you think the test is wrong?" she asked her best friend.

With her hands still firmly clamped over her mouth, Wendy shook her head.

After peering at the stick to see if the results had changed, Mandy mumbled, "I slept with Henry a little over a month ago, I missed my period, my boobs are killing me, and the stick says I'm pregnant." She glanced up at her silent best friend. "I think I'm going to repeat the test, just in case there was something wrong with this stick. I've heard stories about defective tests giving inaccurate results."

Three and half minutes later…

"Two lines," Mandy looked to Wendy for confirmation. "I slept with Henry a little over a month ago, I missed my period, my boobs are killing me, and two out of two sticks say I'm pregnant. That probably means I'm really am, huh?"

Wendy nodded.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Because I don't know if you want me to be happy for you, because you're having a baby and you love babies, or should I be terribly concerned for you because you're having a baby, and while babies are wonderful, you don't want to have Henry's baby. Which one am I supposed to be?"

Mandy glanced down at her stomach. "I'm having a baby."

"So, you're going to have it?"

"What do you mean?" Mandy asked with a wrinkled brow.

"I mean you're going to have the baby as opposed to getting an abortion."

Mandy gasped and wrapped her arms around her waist. "I couldn't do that to my baby." The words resonated. "My baby. I'm having a baby."

"You and** Henry** are having a baby," Wendy reminded her. "You have to tell him." When she saw her friend caressing her stomach, she knelt down in front of her. "Congratulations, Mom."

"Mom," Mandy's eyes flooded. "I've always wanted to be a mommy."

"So, we're happy, right?" Wendy smiled. "I can be happy for you."

Mandy hugged her pal. "You're my best friend."

"And you're my best friend."

"I love you like a sister."

"Aww, I love you like a sister too."

"Will you tell Henry for me?"

"Fat chance, sister!" Wendy stood laughing, "You slept with him, you're telling he's gonna be a daddy."

* * *

"Come to, Daddy!" Standing in the middle of the backyard, Nick clapped his hands. "C'mere, Chico!" When the Yellow Lab came running with a slobbered tennis ball in his mouth, the proud parent cheered, "Good, boy! Good, Chico!" Kneeling down, he praised the dog with a hug and scratches. "I can't believe those nasty old owners of yours said you couldn't be trained. We're showin' them, huh?" 

The grateful one year old dog sloppily kissed the kind man who had been showering him with affection since leaving the pound together three days earlier.

"Do you love your new big back yard? I do. I love havin' a doggie in it. Yeah, we like to play in our backyard, don't we, Chico?"

When Greg stepped onto the patio of his new home, he announced, "Dinner's ready, boys! Fajitas for the human, kibble for the canine."

"Chico!" Nick ordered, "Git Mommy!"

Without hesitation, the dog raced over to Greg.

Nick joined them laughing. "I didn't even teach him that, he just instinctively knows you're the woman."

Greg crouched down to hug the pooch. "Yeah, Chico, we had to get a male dog, because there can only be one bitch in this house."

"Ha!"

Greg stood and brushed the dog hair from his shirt. "This is why my mother didn't like dogs – the shedding drove her crazy."

"Uh oh, are you turnin' into your Mama, G?"

"No." Greg had to force himself to stop obsessively removing hair from his black t-shirt.

"C'mere." Nick wrapped his arms around his partner's waist. "Kiss me. Kiss me in** our** backyard."

"What about the neighbors?"

"We only have to worry about the two-story on the right, and they can only see into the side yard."

"CSI Stokes has been doing a little trajectory work I see."

"Yeah, and I'm happy to report there are no sight lines into the Jacuzzi or swimming pool."

"Good, because California boys lovvvvvve nekkid hot tubbing."

Nick lingered a slow, wet kiss over his lover's lips. "Thanks for makin' dinner, honey."

"Dinner?" Greg feigned dizziness. "What dinner? I think I need to lie down…with you...on top of me. Seriously, you better carry me to the bedroom, I feel woozy."

* * *

"I'm getting dizzy," Sara remarked to Gil while holding her head. "The paint fumes are getting to me." 

"Are you sure it's not a pregnancy sign, honey?"

Rolling her eyes, Sara rested her paint brush on the tray.

"_Hey, honey." Gil trudged into the room holding a bouquet of wild flowers. "I hate Ecklie, but I love you, so I bought you flowers." One look at his significant other's face and he knew something was up. "What's wrong?"_

"_Nothing." _

_Not wanting to be a party to the lie, Bruno trotted out of the room. _

"_What did our beloved dog do this time?" Gil droned. _

"_Nothing." _

"_I'm a skilled investigator, Sara, but even a rookie would intuit that you're hiding something from me." _

"_Stop being paranoid." _

_When Gil saw Bruno standing behind Sara holding what appeared to be the box of an EPT box, he asked, "Is our dog worried that he impregnated the neighbor's Shih Tzu or did you buy a pregnancy test for yourself?" _

_Sara whirled around just in time to see their Boxer ripping the box to shreds. _

"_When were you going to tell me?"  
_

_The beep of the oven timer startled the edgy couple. _

"_You're just doing the test?" Gil quizzed. "You don't know the results yet?" _

_Staring at the floor, Sara shook her head. _

"_How could you be pregnant?" Gil asked, trying to mask the fear in his voice. _

"_Uh…you have a PhD in Biology…" _

"_You know what I mean, Sara!" Gil snapped while tossing his belongings on the couch._

"_You're yelling at me for this?!" Hurt, she marched into the kitchen to quiet the timer. "Allow me to refresh your memory - one night we didn't have a condom and you didn't want to wait for me to…"_

"_I forgot about that night." He scratched his head. "You said you just finished your period, so we wouldn't have to worry." _

"_Yeah, well...here we are worrying." _

"_I'm sorry for snapping. I just feel completely blindsided." _

_When Sara saw her significant other's hands were shaking, she forgave him for yelling. "It's okay. My plan was to do the test and if it was negative, I wouldn't tell you, because what would be the point?" _

"_And if it was positive?" _

"_I honestly couldn't even consider that possibility, so…I don't know what I would…we need to check, because the test will be void after a few minutes." Sara quietly asked, "Can you look for me, for us? It's in our bathroom." _

"_Without you?" _

"_Please." A minute later, when Sara saw Gil standing in the doorway looking pale, she panicked, "No, really? I'm …" _

"_No." _

"_I'm not?" _

"_No, you're not pregnant." Gil walked into the kitchen and threw the stick in the trash. _

"_From the look on your face…" She dropped onto the couch. "I'm peeing all the time and I have this bloated feeling, I really thought…" _

"_Maybe it's a bladder infection," Gil said while washing his hands. _

"_Why do you look so freaked out if it's negative?" _

"_Because…" He tossed the dishtowel on the counter. "Because it was…I don't know what it was." _

"_Are you disappointed?" she asked, stunned by the prospect. _

"_Are you?" _

"_No, I'm relieved." _

_Gil took a seat on the couch next to her. "Me too." _

_Bruno didn't want to miss out on a golden opportunity for duel affection, so he placed his head between his parents. _

"_I love my family," Sara whispered as she scratched the dog's head with one hand and slipped the other into Gil's still trembling palm. "Just the way it is." _

_His pulse rate finally slowing, Gil rested his head on Sara's shoulder. "Me too." _

"_Can you imagine us with a baby?" Her nerves making her laugh, she said, "We can't even handle a grown dog." Not wanting to deal with the possibility ever again, Sara suggested, "Maybe you should get a vasectomy. Since the pill makes me sick, we're never going to be able to fall into bed without…" _

"_You want me to get snipped?" Gil remarked in shock._

"_You don't want to have kids, so why not?" _

"_There's a big difference between not wanting children and not being able to have them." _

_Sara pondered the statement. "You like the idea you could have children if you wanted them, even though you don't want them? Are you sure you don't want them?" _

"_I'm 51, Sara." _

"_Men have kids when they're 70." _

"_But you said you don't want kids."_

"_I don't." _

"_So how am I going to have kids, when you don't want kids?" _

"_You'd have to find someone else." _

_Gil had to laugh. "It took me almost ten years to work up the nerve to be with you. I would be 70 if I had to do it all over again with someone new and I don't want someone new, I want you." _

"_And I wish I could get an IUD, but my GYN said no because of my fibroid issues. If it wasn't an invasive procedure, I'd get my tubes tied, but that's a much bigger deal than a vasectomy. I'm just being logical."_

_He feigned irritation, "How dare you use logic to manipulate me." _

"You're very tense," Sara massaged her man's shoulders.

"You would be too if you were getting your balls snipped on Monday."

"Aww, I'll be right there holding your hand."

* * *

"I'll stand next to you, but you have to tell him." Wendy knocked on Henry's door for her jittery friend. "Ready?" 

"No!" Even though she wasn't ready, the door was opening and there was no turning back.

"What are you two doing here?" Henry asked, surprised to see his co-workers on his doorstep. It was the first weekend of the new 'weekends off' schedule and he couldn't believe Wendy and Mandy would want to spend any of their cherished free time with him.

When Mandy didn't speak up, Wendy explained, "We were in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by to say hi." _And tell you you're going to be a daddy_. "May we come in?"

"Uh…my place is kind of a mess."

Peering over her height-challenged co-worker's shoulder, Wendy saw an impeccably neat living room and kitchen. "Are you kidding me? I have laundry piled on my couch and a three-day old pizza box on my kitchen counter. Let us in."

Henry reluctantly stepped back to give the uninvited guests access. "Fine." Then, remembering his manners, he politely asked, "Would you like something to drink? I have wine, beer and iced tea…and water of course…and milk. Or I could put on a pot of coffee if you…"

"Wine for me," Wendy answered, "a nice big glass."

"Chardonnay or Merlot?"

"Chardonnay, thanks."

"What about you, Mandy?"

"She'll have ice water," Wendy answered on behalf of her pregnant friend whose lips were clamped tighter than a clam shell.

"Be right back." Henry moped into the kitchen.

"I am not telling him!" Wendy heatedly whispered. "Start talking, girlfriend!" But when she saw her friend's eyes were glassy and her hands shaking, she backed off.

A couple of minutes later, Henry returned to the living room with two glasses.

"Mandy told me that you had a collection of Playbills on the wall." Wendy took her glass of Chardonnay. "Where is it?" The apartment looked very mature and stylishly decorated to her, not at all the childish musical-obsessed haven of bad taste that her friend had described.

"Oh, um…" Henry handed the ice water to his ex-lover without making eye contact. "I got the urge to do a little re-decorating about a month ago."

_Sitting on his couch with Hodges and Archie in silence, Henry watched the credits of __Fever Pitch__ roll on his plasma TV. _

"_Why do you think Sanders said the three of us should watch this movie about a guy obsessed with the Red Sox?" Archie looked to his co-workers for an answer. "He knows I hate baseball." _

"_Don't look at me." Clutching an empty popcorn bucket, Hodges disappointedly said, "I assumed it was going to be porn because Sanders recommended it and I heard Fevered Bitch when we got the invite, not Fever Pitch." _

"_Um…" Henry shut off the TV and stood in front of his wall of Playbills. "I think Greg thought we could learn something, because we're kind of like the guy in the movie." _

"_We don't have anything in common with that sports nut," Archie laughed. "That guy was a total loser." _

_Henry delicately asked, "How many Star Trek toys do you have in your collection, Archie?" _

"_1,416. Why?" _

"_And Hodges…what kind of shower curtain do you have hanging in your bathroom?" _

"_Partridge family in the Master and Land of the Lost in the guest bath. Why?" _

_The men on the couch watched Henry point to his wall of Playbills. "We're all obsessed with something quirky and aren't getting laid." _

"_Speak for yourself!" Hodges huffed with indignation. "I have sex all the time." _

"_Blow up dolls don't count." _

"_Oh." Hodges lowered his eyes to the empty popcorn bucket. _

_After removing a framed Playbill from the wall, Henry said, "If we want to have girlfriends, we need to make some changes." _

"I moved my collection into binders." Henry retrieved a volume from the shelf. "My mother crocheted the covers. He proudly showed it off to Wendy. "This is Volume G through M."

Wendy immediately flipped to the M's. "**Mamma Mia**. I've thought about getting tickets for that when it comes to the Mandalay Bay in August. Is it about a woman who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant?"

Mandy burst into tears, partly because she was nervous, but mostly because she was afraid her unborn baby would be forced to suffer through Cats.

"What's wrong with her?" Henry asked with concern in his voice.

"She's going through an emotional phase," Wendy replied while returning the binder to its spot on the shelf. "It's expected to last for **nine months**."

"Nine months? What kind of emotional phase lasts for…nine mon…m….m…mamma mia." He gripped his head. "Is she…did you come here to tell me that…"

"Yep." Wendy dropped a hand on the panicked man's shoulder. "You and Mamma Mia got drunk, fell into bed and made a baby. Congratulatons!"

"We made a baby," Henry parroted, unable to believe the news.

Wendy set her half-full glass on the coffee table. "You have a lot of talking to do, so I'm going to leave you to it."

"What?!" Mandy protested as tears poured down her cheeks. "You're not going to help us?"

"You didn't need me here to make the baby, did you? Nope!" Knowing it was best, Wendy waved goodbye to her friends. "This is a family matter. Good luck, Mom and Dad!"

"Parents." Henry gulped the remainder of Wendy's wine. "We're going to be parents."

* * *

"Congratulations, Mom and Dad!" Greg read out loud from his laptop screen as he lounged on the couch with his family. "Look for a gift basket for your new boy to arrive shortly. We'll stop by and see him and your new house on Friday when we come to town for our final Social Services interview and your non-surprise birthday party. I still can't believe you snooped and spoiled the surprise Nick was working on! (I would have done the same thing LOL…like mother, like gay son!) Cross your fingers, if all goes well, we'll be able to set the adoption court date for next month. Jenni's doing great with her walker, thank you for asking, you know she loves to impress her big brother. The physical therapist said that if she works hard all summer, she'll be as good as new by the time she starts Butterfield Academy with Cassie on August 27th. I've decided that we're going to celebrate closing on the Summerlin house with a big carpet picnic in the empty living room, just like we did when we moved into the Santa Monica house, you loved that, remember? We'll eat pizza and watch movies in sleeping bags. The girls are counting on you two being there, so June 7th better be circled on your calendar. I know Nicky will remember, he's such a responsible young man. Please don't bring the dog though. I love my furry grandson, but I don't want his fur on my new Berber carpet. Love, Mom." Glancing over, he said, "I emailed my parents our Adoption Day photos with Chico." 

"You told her you found out about the party while you were snoopin'?"

"I didn't want to tell her the truth."

"_Cletus! I'm home!" Greg tossed his keys on one of the many unpacked boxes. _

"_What are doing home?" Nick anxiously asked his partner as he rushed into the living room. "You weren't supposed to be home for hours." He glanced over his shoulder. "Why didn't you call to say you were on your way?" _

"_My court appearance got bumped to tomorrow morning. I didn't call, because I wanted to surprise you." Noting the tension on his partner's face, Greg asked, "Why is it upsetting that I'm home earlier? We just moved in yesterday, we have a ton of stuff to do, so I thought…" When he saw an attractive man exiting the hall bathroom, his breath caught in his throat. _

"_The marble in that bathroom is fabulous," the flamboyantly gay man declared as he finished zippering his fly. "And don't worry, handsome, I recovered just fine from that dirty little romp." _

"_This isn't happening." Greg's panic grew as Nick's did. _

"_Looks like we're busted, cowboy," the man shook his head. "I thought you said he would be tied up for hours?" _

"_G! It's not what you think." Nick stepped forward to take his partner's hand. "He's…" _

_Greg bolted to the other side of the room. "That's exactly what Lacey said every time I saw her with that asshole!" His heart pounding in his chest, he screamed, "I can't believe this is happening!" _

"_Calm down, Drama Queen." Trey laughed at the silly misunderstanding. "I didn't touch your man. Cowboy here is so not my type. I'm into leather." He chuckled, "Maybe if he wore chaps, __**only**__ chaps, I'd consider it, but even then, probably not, he's just too…clean. I like my men just like I enjoy my martinis…dirty." _

"_He's a party planner, G." Nick held up the man's business card. "Dr. Henry recommended him." _

_Confused and biting back tears, Greg remained silent._

"_I hired him to cater a party around the pool for your birthday. It was gonna be a surprise." Desperate to make everything alright, Nick kept rambling, "Your mom knows about the party. Cath and Warrick too! I wanted to do somethin' special." _

"_Fine, okay, he's a party planner!" Still shaking, Greg said, "But why was he talking about recovering from a dirty romp? That doesn't make any sense, __**handsome!**__" _

_Trey huffed, "I was dirty because your damn dog tackled me in the backyard. That beast got mud prints on my Armani slacks and he shoved his slobbery tongue in my mouth. I'm into a lot of kinky shit, but even__** I**__ don't enjoy Bestiality." _

"_Here's your money." Nick handed the man the required deposit check. "Sorry again about what happened with Chico, we just adopted him yesterday and he's not trained yet. He won't be out during the party." He hurried to the front door and opened it. _

"_Time for makeup sex!" Pocketing the check, Trey snickered, "That bitch deserves a good cropping for doubting your fidelity, cowboy." _

_Feeling horrible for thinking the worst, Greg sat on the couch and lowered his head into his hands. "Shit." _

"_He's gone." When Greg didn't move, Nick crossed the room. "Look at me, G." _

"_I can't. I feel horrible for thinking you cheated on me. I know you'd never…god, you must hate for thinking that. I can't believe I…" _

"_Listen to me." Nick knelt in front of his partner. "I know you believe I'd never cheat on you. All the evidence pointed toward me deceivin' you and bein' with that guy. You had a very understandable knee-jerk reaction. I'm not mad or disappointed. As a guy with PTSD issues, I totally get how quickly the brain jumps to conclusions and makes a guy with emotional baggage panic." Taking his partner's trembling hand, he softly said, " I don't know what it feels like to walk in on a loved one havin' sex with someone else, but I do know that kind of betrayal cuts deep and old wounds are easily opened under the right circumstances. Are you hearin' me, G? I'm not angry. I feel bad that I made you worry." _

"_I'm sorry," Greg tearfully apologized while accepting the hug he was offered. "I'm sorry." Squeezing tight, he said, "Life is so freaking perfect right now. We just bought this great house and adopted the coolest dog...I'm so ridiculously happy." _

"_Me too." _

"_I keep waiting for disaster to strike and take all the happiness away." _

"_Considerin' all the shit we've already gone through in life, there's a good chance that we've hit our disaster quota and all we have left is a well-deserved happily ever after. Isn't that possible?" _

"_That's not what I mean exactly." The shaky geek confessed, "We can't ignore the fact that you've never been with another guy. You came out and went right into a relationship with me. I think maybe there's a tiny little part of me worried that you'll get curious…because it would be normal for you to be curious. How could you not be curious?" Relieved and terrified to be vocalizing his worst fear, Greg said, "I'm a goofy Chem nerd with a flat ass who was out bench-pressed by a girl at the gym last week. You're a hot, fun guy and an insanely good lover. You could do__** much**__ better than me. It's only been a couple of months. You're only starting to get comfortable with being gay beyond the privacy of our home, but if you went out on Saturday night and immersed yourself in the gay community, you'd see that you're slumming it. What happens when you realize that six months from now when you are comfortable out there?"_

"_I've already realized it, G." Deciding honesty was the only option, Nick said, "I've already been curious. But whenever I've thought of other guys, not once did I come to the conclusion that I'd be happier with someone else. I know I have everything I need with you. I'd be crazy to believe I could do better than perfect." _

"_Me, perfect?" Greg scoffed, "How can I believe you when you're obviously BSing to make me feel better?" _

"_Okay, if you're talkin' in terms of the hottest ass and the best six-pack, then no, you're not perfect. You have a two-pack and your ass looks flatter than a pancake in jeans." Nick smiled, "But I'm not 21, I'm 35, and scorin' a different piece of hot ass every Saturday night isn't my top priority anymore. I'm focused on sharing my life with someone who wants a house, a retriever and a kid someday. Don't get me wrong, I still love sex on Saturday nights, but unlike 10 years ago, I want to know the person I'm bedding…I want to eat breakfast with them in the morning. I need them to be my lover and my best friend, not just a good lay." Cupping his partner's face, he affectionately whispered, "When I say you're perfect, I mean you're perfect for me and the life I want today and thirty years from now." _

"_I love you," Greg sniffled. _

"_And I love this life we're making together." Nick pulled him in his arms. "You've made me the happiest guy." _

"_But what about the curiosity factor?" _

"_Honey, when it comes to meaningless sex in a dark room, a mouth is a mouth and an ass is an ass." Nick chuckled, "Yeah, they were all women, but it's safe to say my wild oats have been sowed. I've even had a few threesomes." _

"_How many threesomes?" _

"_I don't know…a dozen or so. Rick and I made a few Spring Break trips to Cancun back in the day and loose doesn't begin to describe some of those girls," Nick laughed at the ridiculous memories. "G, if anyone should be worried, it's me, because I know you have unsowed oats." _

"_Yeah, but I'm living out my fantasies with you." _

"_And you are by far the most fun I've ever had between the sheets. I'm thrilled with our love life. It's unpredictable…hot, erotic, sweet, dirty, I never know what it's gonna be and your lack of a perfect six-pack hasn't stopped you from rockin' my world, believe me." He stole a kiss. "Personally, I hope your unfilled fantasy checklist is ten pages long." _

"_I'm not that pathetic." Greg laughed, "It's __**nine **__pages. We'll need a blow up doll to work my threesome work though." _

"_I could buy you a threesome at one of Nevada's fine legal brothels for your birthday." Thinking about the scenario, Nick winked, "I'll kill any guy who touches you, but it would be fun watchin' you get handled by a couple of workin' girls." _

"_Seriously?" Greg's laughter intensified. _

"_I already got you that Best Buy gift card you wanted, but I can always save that for Christmas."_

"_And you'd just sit there and watch?" _

"_Hell no, I'd drink booze and cheer you on." _

_Imagining the scenario, Greg joked, "Hmm, with you as my audience, I could check off exhibitionism too." _

"_Hey, before you get carried away fantasizing, Spanky," Nick sobered, "I need you to hear you say that you believe me, that you believe I'm not like Lacey. When I wear your ring and say it's forever, it__** will**__ be forever, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. I'm an old fashioned guy who still believes a promise is a promise." He placed a kiss on Greg's shell bracelet. "You know, all my sisters had panic attacks about the future when they were engaged and plannin' the ceremony. It's normal to have doubts, but now that I've reassured you, I need you to have complete faith in me._

"_I do," Greg answered without hesitation. _

"_Say it just like that on the beach in July, baby! Loud and confident." _

"_I promise." Greg nodded and pulled in a steadying breath. "I can't believe you hired a flamer who is into kinky sex with dirty bikers to cater my birthday party. Eww."_

"_He doesn't touch the food, he just hires the caterers." Nick was relieved to see a smile on his partner's face. "Trey handled Dr. Henry's commitment ceremony and he said he did an awesome job." _

"_I can't believe you're throwing me a big surprise party." _

"_Yeah, too bad it's not a surprise anymore." Nick bumped their noses. "After all you went through since your last birthday, I figured you earned a top-notch celebration. And I want all our friends to know how much I love you." His face exploded into a smile. "Even though we really didn't fight, we can still have hot makeup sex if you want. I've got a riding crop if you want me to use it, my little perv."_

"_Really?" _

"_MmmHmm." _

_Greg darted for the stairs. "Let's go, Tex!" _

"Damn, I'm gettin' hot just thinkin' about that romp." Nick checked his watch. "Too bad we don't have time to re-enact it. 'Rick is due here any minute to help me move that IKEA stuff upstairs."

"I could have carried it."

"No, we're not takin' a chance with your shoulder." It had been severely dislocated during the beating and was easily aggravated. "You already hurt yourself when you tried to bench press too much weight."

When the doorbell rang, Greg jumped to answer it. "You better get rid of that wood or he'll get squicked." Their friend got quite a shock when he caught them stealing a kiss in the garage on moving day.

Catherine yelled through the door, "Stop kissing and open up!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!"

"Yeah, that's exactly what Warrick's afraid of."

When Greg opened the door he pretended to be zipping his fly. "Nick will be here in a minute, it was his turn to hose down our rubber sheets."

"He's kidding!" Nick yelled from the living room.

Greg nodded, "The sheets are actually vinyl."

* * *

While standing in the bedding department of Linens and Things trying to decide if 300 thread-count sheets were worth the money, Hodges saw Wendy strolling by. "Shopping on your weekend off?" 

Surprised to see her co-worker, Wendy did a double take. "What are you doing here?"

"Upgrading my bedding."

"I didn't think blow-up dolls cared what they slept on."

"Unlike you, my blow up doll can say she has a hot date tonight."

"It's only eight o'clock, I'm getting picked up at nine."

"What's his name?" Hodges snickered, "George Glass or Keyser Soze?"

"Okay, fine, I don't have a date, but it's by choice." Stuffing her arms across her chest, she said, "I have a healthy enough self –esteem to spend Saturday night alone. I going to the movies."

"Have you ever been to a movie alone on a Saturday night?" Hodges laughed, "You may as well hang a neon arrow over your head that says Dateless Loser."

"That's what I was afraid of." Her enthusiasm deflated. "I really want to see 28 Weeks Later."

"Really?" He was surprised to hear it. "I plan on seeing it tomorrow. I loved the first one, saw it five times in the theater."

"Me too. I hope the sequel is as good. You never know about sequels though, sometimes they really suck. Still, it's a zombie movie, so it has to be good."

* * *

"You don't like zombie movies?" Greg handed Catherine her requested glass of wine. "Cletus and I have been looking forward to seeing the movie all week. We're going to the midnight showing if you and 'Rick change your minds." 

"He's taking me out for a candlelit dinner and a night of dancing both vertically and horizontally. Your zombie movie can't compete with that line up."

"True, but I can't get my boyfriend to romance me in public or dance with me, so I'm thrilled he'll see a scary movie with me and brush up against my hand in our popcorn bucket."

"Nick loves to dance. He won't dance with you? Not even in private?"

"Nope." Greg shook his head while bringing his beer bottle to his lips. "He thinks it's too queer."

"Dancing is too queer? As opposed to having sex with you?" While Greg choked on his swig of beer, she laughed, "Honey, if he gets to put it where the sun don't shine, you should get a dance. Where is that hick?" She marched off to find him.

"Got it." Warrick angled the large box slightly to the right and made it through the doorway. "I'm in, so keep walking."

"Thanks for helpin' me with this, man."

"The little woman wasn't up to it, huh?"

Happy that his friend had grown comfortable enough to crack jokes, Nick said, "His shoulder's still not right. He's back in PT, but honestly, I don't think it's ever gonna be right."

Glancing around the masculine bedroom, Warrick joked, "I expected the love shack to look different. Plaid and hunting ducks with knotty pine furniture doesn't scream gay man to me. I was expecting pink leopard and plether."

"Gay isn't just for cupcakes and bikers anymore."

"I guess not."

"So, are ya takin' Cath out for fried chicken and watermelon tonight?"

Warrick laughed, "Point taken. I shouldn't be proppin' stereotypes after the shit that just went down."

Opening the furniture box, Nick said, "The supervisor gig? I don't know, man. Maybe you should have taken it anyway."

"How would you feel if you were offered a job only because you were gay? It's the same thing. The Sheriff needed a black face in management after all the shit with the James family."

"If I knew I was qualified for the job..."

"But that's not what anyone would see."

"Outsiders maybe, but not anyone who knows you."

"Yeah, well…what's done is done." Warrick shrugged. "With Cath and I hooked up, it's good being on the same schedule. If I was working the weekends and days, we'd never see each other and I've already been down that route with Tina and we all know how well that turned out. Especially now that we just got weekends off, y'know? We have a shot at a semi-normal life."

"I hear ya."

"Life's too short to spend it answering it to Ecklie and being the Sheriff's token black."

"You're right, why help them and feel like you sold out? You need it to happen on your own terms when it's good for you."

"Exactly." Walking out of the room with his pal, Warrick said, "And I woulda missed workin' with my gay brothers."

"Nicky!" Catherine marched down the hall. "Can I have a word with you, please?"

"I know that tone." Warrick continued downstairs. "I'm outta here."

"Why won't you dance with Greg?"

"Uh…" Nick flustered, "When did that become a problem for you?"

Just in case Greg was at the bottom of the stairs listening, Catherine lowered her voice to a whisper, "Think about it, he's one of those geeky guys who didn't go to his senior prom. He's probably having nerd flashbacks every time you tell him no. Make the little wallflower's night…give him a dance with the school heartthrob."

"Cath, we're in the closet except for our friends. It's a little hard to be in the middle of a dance floor cuddlin' Greg without people noticing."

"Then dance in the living room or the bedroom. It doesn't have to be public."

"Wow, look at the time." Nick pointed to his watch. "We have a movie to catch."

"Four hours from now."

"G!" Nick yelled downstairs. "Let's catch the earlier flick, 'cause I can't wait to see it."

* * *

Standing in the movie theater parking lot, Wendy lectured Hodges, "Let's talk ground rules." 

"Ground rules?"

"This is not a date. You are not to refer to it that way at any time. We're two co-workers with a mutual interest in zombie movies who didn't want to wait until Sunday afternoon to see a movie, so we're accompanying each other on Saturday night. We're not sharing any food or drinks. We're not even sharing an arm rest. There'll be no touching **at all.** Do you think you can live by those rules?"

"Yes, because I don't want your cooties, Simms, and I'd be horrified if anyone thought we dated." He feigned a shiver. "We'll just walk in together, get our snacks in a mutually appreciated silence, and then take our seats."

When Hodges's arm brushed against Wendy's as they strolled up to the entrance, she snipped, "I'd like to maintain two feet of distance at all times." A sudden bang sent her lurching for her co-worker. "Was that a gunshot?!"

"No, it was just a car backfiring." Hodges held her tight. "It did sound like a gunshot, but really, it's okay."

A cat call was the next sound the jittery woman heard, followed by Nick breaking into song.

"Hodges and Wendy sittin' in a tree…"

"Shut up, Stokes!" she blasted. "We're not on a date."

"Then why are you holdin' his arm with a vice grip?" Nick asked while nudging his partner. "Don't they make a cute couple, G?"

Wendy jumped back. "We are** not** a couple!"

"Surrrrrrrrre, you're not," Greg replied while winking. "Trust me, we understand the meaning of discretion. Only a handful of people know about us."

Wendy shoved her non-date, "Say something, Hodges!"

Hodges gladly obliged his non-date, "Wen and I have been looking forward to seeing this for weeks. We're both huge zombie fans." Tossing an arm around her shoulder, he squeezed. "Isn't that right, Snookums?"

"Stop it!" she shrieked.

"They're our friends, honey, we don't have to hide in front of them." Hodges couldn't remember the last time he smiled so wide.

"We'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Nick grabbed his date by the elbow. "Let's go, Snookums."

"We're not dating!" Wendy yelled at their backs. "You're a dead man, Hodges!"

Standing in front of the 28 Weeks Later poster, Hodges snickered, "I think someone is coming down with a nasty case of rage virus."

"You just lost yourself a movie partner, jerk!" Wendy stomped off. "I'm seeing it with Nick and Greg!"

"No, I am!"

They raced to get to the guys first.

"I'm sitting with you!" Wendy and Hodges both yelled at their co-workers.

"Uh, not you're not," Greg replied, "because four's a crowd."

* * *

"Baby makes three," Henry whispered as he sat on the couch staring at the front door of his apartment. _Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at her for lying and kicked her out. But she shouldn't have lied! I trusted her when she told me she was on the pill. Of course I trusted her, we've been working together for years. I have every right to be angry that she intentionally deceived me. She used me as a free sperm bank! _

He sank deeper into the cushions. _Who am I kidding? She's probably horrified that she has my elephant-eared nerd progeny inside of her. She only told me because she felt obligated, not because she wants to be with me. I'm going to be a dad, but she wants me to be a dad with visitation rights, not a full-time daddy and husband. _Tears formed in his eyes as he thought of what he and his son or daughter would be missing. "I'm sorry," the boy who grew up without a dad around said to his unborn child. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

"You should be sorry," Greg grumbled, "I can't believe you're crashing my date!" Since the movie was crowded, he had volunteered to get seats while Nick went to the concession stand. "I didn't expect to spend our first weekend off hanging out with you." 

Smirking, Hodges leaned in and whispered, "Aww, are you going to be too shy to suck face with your boyfriend now?" He puckered up and made smoochy noises.

"Hello, boys!"

Greg and Hodges both jumped in their seats when Paula, the Lab's annoying Evidence Room Head Clerk, showed up in the aisle next to them.

"I always had my suspicions about you two," the 53 year old busybody whispered just above the din of the theater. "I got a big 'ol ping on my gaydar just now when you were playing kissy-face. How long have you been a couple?"

"We're** not** a couple," Greg protested. "We're here with Nick and Wendy."

"Now those two make a hot couple." Paula momentarily lapsed into one of her Nick Stokes cowboy fantasies. "Mmm."

"Seriously, we're not on a double date with Wendy and Nick and we're not a couple."

Paula winked, "Surrrrrrrrre you're not a couple." She puckered up and made smoochy noises. "I haven't busted a couple making out at the movies since I was in high school. I feel 16 again," she giggled. "Enjoy the movie, lovebirds. Excited to have a contribution for Monday morning's gossip and coffee session on the smoker's patio, she walked away grinning.

Sneering at his co-worker, Greg said, "Nice going, jerk."

"How do you think I feel?" Hodges asked with indignation. "If I'm going to be mislabeled queer, I want to be hooked up with Nick, not you."

"So, you're ruining my date **and **insulting me? Dude, I'll solve the mystery of why you're alone every Saturday night…you're alone because you're an insufferable ass." When he saw Nick returning, Greg slid over a seat. "You sit next to him, I've had my fill."

"Should I uninvite him to your non-surprise party, G?" Nick took a seat on the opposite side of Greg, forcing Wendy to sit next to Hodges. "Sorry, sweetheart," he informed his disappointed co-worker in a laugh, "but I gotta share my popcorn with my date."

* * *

"Here you go." Sara handed her significant other a steaming bowl of popcorn. "Is the movie in?" 

Gil patted the sofa. "We're all set."

Dressed in her comfiest loungewear, Sara kicked up her feet on the coffee table and settled in next to her man. "I love oldies."

"Are you talking about me or the Hepburn film?"

"You're only as old as you feel."

"Okay." After clicking off the light, Gil draped his arm around his lover. "Wanna make out?" he joked, feeling seventeen.

Sara replied in her sexiest rasp, "Just get me home by curfew, stud." Much to her delight, she was met with the sensual kiss of a loving man, instead of a joke kiss from a horny teen.

"Thankfully I don't have to take you home by midnight." He brushed his moist lips over hers. "I get to wake up in your arms tomorrow."

"And you were worried about having weekends off."

"I'm not always a genius, Sara." The recovering workaholic smiled, "The old me would have been bored to tears, but now that I have someone spectacular to spend my Saturday nights with, I'm going to handle this 'weekends off' mandate just fine."

"Really?"

"Yes." The soft sound of Bruno's snoring and peace in Sara's beautiful brown eyes warmed his heart. "I'm going to be a family man."

* * *

"Our boy's asleep, G," Nick whispered, as he stood in the doorway of their large laundry room. Quietly shutting the door and backing away, he said, "Chico really loves that microbead bed you bought him." 

Greg beamed, "I did something right as a daddy."

"I don't know why you're surprised." Nick took his hand, leading him into the family room. "Unlike me, you've got a great dad as a role model. So, even though you've never had any hands-on daddy experience, everything he's done is in your head and you're gonna be a natural because of it. Me, I have to break the cycle of psycho fathering I grew up with and figure out how to be a good dad on my own."

"I'm not worried about you at all. Kids love you." When Greg saw his partner turning on the stereo he asked, "I thought we were going for a swim."

"After."

"After…" Greg smiled, waiting to find out what his grinning lover had in mind.

"After we dance a slow one." Nick slipped his arms around his ecstatic partner's waist. "Catherine isn't always wrong. I should have danced with you when you asked. When we go to LA in a couple of weeks, I think I might be comfortable enough to go to a club and break a sweat dancin' with you too."

"Seriously? I'd love that."

Swaying to the music and falling a little deeper in love, Nick said, "I figure we gotta get a bunch of party nights in before our family gets bigger than a retriever."

"I…" Multiple rings of the doorbell halted Greg's words.

"Who could that be?" Nick led the way to the door and when he peered through the peephole, he was surprised to see his co-worker. "It's Mandy and she's cryin'."

Greg threw open the door. "Mandy, what's going on?"

The hysterical woman shrieked, "I'm pregnant and it's all your fault!"

"G…" Nick cleared his throat. "Is there something you forgot to tell me about your date with Mandy?"

"I'm just as surprised as you, Cletus." Greg watched Mandy storm into the house. "All we did was play Skeeball, but she had unprotected sex with Henry."

"It's Henry's baby," she bawled, while dropping onto the couch. "And he hates me." Caressing her belly, she cried, "My baby's daddy hates me."

"Sounds like a rap song I heard earlier," Greg started beat boxing. "My baby's daddy hates me, so I ain't got no mon-nay. He doesn't think I'm sexy, 'cause I've got a big bel-lay."

"G!" Nick smacked him upside the head. "What the hell, man?! The woman is cryin' her eyes out. No wonder you always struck out with girls." He hurried to the couch. "C'mere."

Mandy fell into the gentlemanly arms being offered by the sweet man next to her.

"I'm sorry!" Greg flustered when Mandy sobbed harder. "Breaking into song was a really stupid thing to do when you're obviously upset. To be honest, I had a few drinks tonight."

"Henry would have loved it, because he loves musicals!" Her tears staining the cotton of Nick's black t-shirt, she whimpered, "I hate musicals and now Henry hates me."

Greg sat on the coffee table. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you. Did you just tell him about the baby?" When she nodded, he said, "Then he's in shock. When people are in shock and upset, they say things they don't mean. Right, Nick?"

"Absolutely." The brother of five sisters expertly consoled the emotional wreck in his arms. "He just needs a little time to absorb the information, sweetheart. He'll come around."

"Yeah." Nodding, Greg added, "Henry would never turn his back on his child. His dad was a deadbeat father who was out of the picture by the time he was three. I specifically remember him saying that if he ever had kids, he'd be a totally involved dad who tucked his kid into bed every night."

"Oh my God! No wonder he hates me," Mandy cried, "I told him that I didn't expect him to be involved, that I could raise the baby on my own."

"Ooh." Greg confirmed, "That would totally tweak his baggage. He's probably bawling his eyes out thinking about how the cycle will be repeated when his kid grows up without his dad around."

"G!" Nick scolded him with his eyes. "My t-shirt is shrinking from the tears here."

"Sorry!" Greg reached out and smoothed his palm over her back. "Don't worry, we'll come up with a plan to help you smooth things out and make you one big happy family."

* * *

**ANs: **

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I thought the new flashbacks were a fun/good way to move the story ahead a month while not missing pertinent details. Now you know why Henry is so close to his show tune loving mommy.

Do you think Gil is doing the right thing by volunteering to get snipped? LOL do you think Nick's doing the wrong thing offering to buy Greg his threesome? Stay tuned!

In the last chapter, Nick talked about love making vs. sex. Since a couple of readers interpreted that Nick was now anti-sex, I want to reiterate that Nick just wanted to add love making into their relationship (when his mood called for it), but he wasn't saying that he was done with everything else (that's why he said he was looking forward to the next adventure of Dex and Jocko). Also, he wasn't saying that he couldn't ever kiss Greg during, but that sometimes it was logistically difficult (compared to when he used to have hetero sex). Life with Greg and as a active gay man is still very new for Nick and I think it's realistic that some things do seem awkward to him. Greg, on the other hand, is hyper and uninhibited, but has no experience slowing things down and upping the romance. Over time, they're learning from each other and carving out an ideal love life. Greg learned a lot in that scene and in the near future, he'll surprise his romantic partner by applying his acquired knowledge and teaching the romance king a thing or two!

An important note about the house purchase – I know it's different in other countries and in some US states, so I want to clarify that in the southwest it's very possible to buy a house in 30 days or even 10. Personally, our last house took 26 days from the moment we listed it until the new owners got the keys. Lawyers are not required and it's a matter of a title search, a home inspection and then the paperwork and money going through. I know from comments I rec'd in my other story that it seemed completely implausible to some readers (LOL one even called me a moron for thinking it could happen), so I wanted to clarify it in my notes in case anyone was wondering.

Thanks to KJT for editing in between visits with koalas and roos. (She got to pet them in Oz, I'm so jealous!) Thanks to my hubby and Veronica for pre-reading and making suggestions.

Thanks to everyone who commented! I'd start out replying, but every time I got a couple done I would get swamped by real life, but still it's an improvement! I really miss being able to give long replies : (

**Next Chapter**: Maybe Saturday…but I'm working a lot this week and on top of soccer for the boys, my daughter is trying out for a play this week and I have to help her with that every day after school, soooooo…I'll try my best, thanks for the support!

**Maggs **


	12. Chapter 12: Cause for Celebration Part 1

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 12: Cause for Celebration – Part 1**

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Sanders." Coretta Markson, Cassie's Social Services caseworker, extended her hand. "I called in a few favors, and got you in with the judge on June 6th. It helped that Judge Ruiz has a soft spot for kids that have been through hell. By 10am on the 6th, Cassie will legally be your daughter."

Her eyes welling, Jan hugged the hardworking woman. "Thank you for everything you've done to make this sail through."

"If every prospective couple had your history and financials, I could make every adoption sail through. Sadly, we have more children than interested parents and a portion of those interested aren't approved."

"Maybe we could take in one more," Jan sniffled.

"Honey…" Dave shook his head. "We talked about this, remember? We have two girls who need a lot of extra attention because of their baggage."

"Your husband is right, Mrs. Sanders." Coretta patted the bleeding heart's arm. "As much as I'd love to move another child into your loving home, I want Jenni and Cassie to get the individualized attention they need."

"I know you're both right. It's just hard not to feel bad for the kids that no one wants because they're too old or damaged goods."

* * *

"What's up with you, Sara?" Nick asked his co-worker as they stood sipping coffee in The Hearty Hen while waiting for their To Go breakfast order. After working a 419 out in the desert for hours and processing a suspect's trailer in Pahrump, they were grabbing breakfast before driving back to Vegas. "You barely said a non-work related word all night while we were workin' and it's not just today, you've been a little out of it all week if I'm bein' totally honest. You look tense as hell right now as a matter of fact." 

"It's that kid screaming over there." Holding her head, she grumbled, "Shouldn't the mother take him outside for a talk instead of letting him shriek?"

After glancing over his shoulder, Nick said, "I don't even think he's a year old, Sara. You can't reason with a ten month old. He's probably hungry. The mom looks like she's searchin' for somethin', probably a bag of Cheerios."

"Sorry!" The frazzled mom apologized to the entire restaurant after popping her son's binky in his mouth. "I couldn't find his pacifier." Embarrassed, she sat back down and started shoving food into her mouth, so she could finish before her son got cranky again.

Nick smiled at his friend, "Better?"

Sara nodded.

"You really don't like kids much, huh?"

"Can we not…"

"26!"

"That's us." Nick hustled over waving his receipt. "Sara, do you need…" When he saw his co-worker walking out of the place, he smiled at the cashier. "Could ya throw in some extra hot sauce, thanks."

"You and your girlfriend in a fight?" the 33 year old woman asked the hot guy in uniform. "No offense, but she looks kind of bitchy. Maybe you should see other woman…like me for example." Reading his jacket, she addressed him by name, "What do you say, Officer Stokes?"

"Actually, I'm a Crime Scene Investigator, not a Police Officer."

"That's okay, I'm a sucker for any man in uniform."

Reading the woman's name tag, he smiled, "She's not my girlfriend, Traci, but I'm gettin' hitched in July to someone real special, so I'll have to politely decline your offer."

"Figures," she sighed, "all the cute ones are gay or taken."

"Or both." He winked before grabbing the bag of food. "Have a good day."

When Nick stepped outside, he saw Sara sitting on a bench staring at her coffee cup. "I wondered where ya went."

"I couldn't breathe in there."

"It doesn't look like you're breathin' too well out here either." Concerned, he took a seat. "If you need an ear…"

"I don't want to have a baby."

Stunned by the intensely personal statement, Nick stammered, "Um…I…are you…"

Sara shook her head and took the napkin her friend was offering. "I don't want to have a baby in the future."

"And Gris does?" he guessed.

"He says he doesn't."

"But you think he does?"

In desperate need of an outside opinion, she confided in her pseudo-brother, "For health reasons, I can't take the pill or get an IUD. We had this little scare that neither of us enjoyed, so I suggested he get a vasectomy to make things easy and worry-free."

Nick shivered at the sound of the v-word.

"He was supposed to get it done on Monday, but when he went to the doctor, he changed his mind. When I asked him what that meant, he said he still didn't want kids, but he just couldn't go through with the vasectomy. He's says there's nothing more to it than that."

"But you think otherwise?"

She nodded and pushed out a breath.

"I don't know, Sara." Nick relaxed against the bench. "I don't see what he'd have to gain by lyin' to you. If you don't want kids and he does, it's not like he has a lot of time to waste, you know? Why wouldn't he end things and try to start over with someone else who was kid-crazy?"

"I've asked myself that a million times."

"Maybe it seems like…I don't know…that he's less of man?"

"But that's ridiculous. People who can't have kids aren't worth less than those who can."

"Logically yeah, but…" He paused for a sip and to find the right words. "When I was thinkin' that I'd never have a family, it was depressing. I'd be home for the holidays sittin' in the living room with all my siblings' spouses and kids and it felt awful."

"Because you wanted a spouse and kids. Why would it feel awful to someone who **says **they don't want kids? That doesn't make sense."

"That's a valid point." Nick returned to sipping and thinking. "Maybe being sterile would make him feel older and he's already insecure about his age because you're 14 years younger." Believing he was on to something, he spoke faster, "You know I love watchin' the Discovery channel. If you watch any of those animal documentaries, when they talk about the males, the most important and respected ones are the most virile. Maybe the idea of being sterile made Mr. Ph. D in Biology freak out that he'd be perceived as weak and old. I know I wouldn't feel as masculine if I knew I couldn't make babies."

"How do you know you can?"

Nick chuckled, "Technically, I don't, but I'm stayin' optimistic. It would be much different if I was walkin' around with snipped balls."

"But Gil is a cerebral, not a jock. He should be above feeling like that."

"He may be a genius, Sara, but he's still a man, and men are obsessed with their parts. They're our most precious commodity and we treasure them. The idea of lettin' some guy slice 'em open and render them useless goes against every primal instinct." Nick shivered, "Hell, I got the heebies just sayin' it out loud."

"You really think that could be it?" she asked, feeling an ounce of hope for the first time in days.

"Yep." His stomach growling, Nick reached into the bag for his burrito. "Men think about sex all the time, Sara, and no guy wants his alpha fantasies tainted by thinkin' about inferior balls." After swallowing a hefty bite of burrito, he said, "Let me throw this scenario at you too…what if there was a world-wide disaster tomorrow and only 10 percent of the population was left and it was up to them to re-populate the world? How would Grissom feel if he had his balls snipped and couldn't help save the world? Remember that movie Deep Impact? It was the one with the asteroid hittin' Earth. Not the Bruce Willis one, the other one, anyway, my point is - the government was takin' people to safety in a special cave, but there wasn't enough room for everyone, so they took** only** the people who were healthy and able to contribute to the re-population of the world. The old and the sterile were left to die in order to save the world. See…there's proof of my theory right there."

"A fictional movie is proof of your theory?"

"Hey, before 9/11, bringin' down the World Trade Center with an airplane would have seemed like a fictional movie plot too, but it happened." He held up his burrito. "If an asteroid hits tomorrow and I survive the blast, my boys and I will rise to the occasion. I bet Gris wants to be able to help too."

"But who is he going to re-populate the world with if I don't want to have kids?"

Nick stopped in mid-bite. "Wouldn't you feel obligated to have a baby in the post-apocalyptic world? The new world will need geniuses and you and Gris could produce a doozy."

"No, I wouldn't feel obligated."

"But what if every woman felt like that? The population would die out."

"Would you stop being gay to re-populate the world?"

"I don't have to stop bein' gay to get a woman pregnant. I don't even have to have sex with a woman to get her pregnant, that's what turkey basters are for," he laughed, "but I'd have sex if all the turkey basters melted in the nuclear blast. Greg and I would make our deposits out of civic duty, it wouldn't be cheatin'."

"Oh, so you could do your civic duty and be happy, but I'd have to give up my body and become a handmaiden for the cause?"

Nick chuckled, "Well hopefully the devastating event won't happen until after science discovers a way to hatch babies or make men pregnant, but if it happens before, then women are stuck with the job and while all the women have babies, the men would be doin' the physical labor and rebuilding the world. That's just the reality of the post-apocalyptic scenario, Sara. That is if it's not a toxic disaster that causes widespread infertility in men and women. If that happens then…"

"Stop." Sara laughed, "You're killing me. Do you have like a year's worth of canned goods in that new house of yours?"

"No, only a month's worth." He winked. "Now you know where to come for nourishment while you're gestatin' the future of our planet."

"Does Greg think you're nuts? Because he doesn't strike me as a 'planning for the apocalypse' kind of guy."

"Yeah, he's more of a 'the world is ending so let's party until it does' kinda guy."

"Speaking of parties, are you all set for his birthday?"

"For the party, yeah." Nick wiped his mouth with a napkin. "And I got him this great surprise gift. He thinks I got him a Best Buy card, which I did, but I got him somethin' else too. He's also expectin' that we…no, I can't tell ya that part."

"You can't say 'I can't tell you' and then not tell me. That's the ultimate tease."

"It's really stupid and you'll think less of me."

"Uh, Mr. Apocalypse, you've gone so far already, why not keep going?"

"I really could use some advice." He inched closer. "Last week while I was drunk, Greg and I got to talkin' about our old sex lives and the wild oats we had sown over the years. During the conversation, Greg confessed that he **never **had a threesome."

"Confessed?" Shaking her head, Sara chortled, "You say that like a guy not having a threesome is as rare as a Unicorn. Lots of men go through life without a threesome or a unicorn sighting and do just fine. Why should he be embarrassed that he hasn't had one? I think more of him because he hasn't had one. Did you make him feel bad that he didn't have one? Just because you and Warrick were on the Vegas orgy circuit…"

"I thought you were helpin' me? Judgin' me isn't helpin' me."

"Sorry."

"I did a lot of things I'm not proud of now, but that's water under the bridge."

"What's the current problem?" she prompted.

"I told Greg I'd buy him a threesome at the Bunny Ranch for his birthday. I thought it would be fun to see the geek gettin' pounced on by two girls for the first time in his life."

"Are you kidding me?" When he shook his head, she scolded, "You're buying him infidelity for his birthday?"

"Like I said, I was drunk at the time I made the offer. I didn't see it as cheatin' since I'd be partying with him" Sighing, Nick explained, "Greg was feelin' real insecure, so I thought makin' him a little more even with me as far as sexual experience goes, would give him a confidence boost. I really didn't think I'd be jealous of women touchin' him while I was there, but yesterday, when that new girl from Records was flirtin' with him, I got totally ruffled. That's when it hit me…I don't just want men not to touch my man, I don't want** anyone** to touch him, not even a paid chick as a joke. Greg's insecure about himself, but to the outside world, he's a fun, loveable, cute guy and chicks and men both want him. He may not believe that, but I sure as hell do and I don't share him. As far as I'm concerned, we're already hitched for life and I'm hardly the kind of guy who could watch his spouse gettin' it on with someone else."

"So, what's the problem? Just tell him what you told me."

"The problem is, he's excited! He's been talkin' about it the entire damn week, Sara." In a whisper he admitted his biggest fear, "And while I'm worried that he misses sleepin' with women, what concerns me most is that he'll enjoy it and want to keep tryin' stuff out, includin' a threesome with another guy. In my therapy sessions with Dr. Henry, he said that it's not uncommon for gay couples in **committed **relationships to invite a third guy into their sex life, a lot of times it's once to satisfy a mutual curiosity, but for other couples, it's all the time."

Seeing a different possibility, Sara posited, "Has it occurred to you that maybe Greg's only telling you what he thinks **you **want to hear?"

* * *

"I can't tell him the truth," Greg informed his rear-view mirror reflection as he drove back to the lab. "He's like totally excited and thinking he's doing me a big favor." 

Driving down a street lined with strip clubs and adult stores, he began obsessing about the upcoming threesome. "I don't want to spend my birthday having sex with chicks-for-hire! My love life is perfect. What I have with Nick now, more than makes up for what I didn't get to do as a horny 20 year old." A billboard for Tweeters depicting a busty blonde inviting men to watch her 'shake her tail feather' made him cringe. "It seems like a lifetime ago that I wanted to fall in bed with a sex kitten and throw caution to the wind."

* * *

Still furious at his anatomy for getting him into a mess, Henry handed over his findings to Grissom. "The tox report shows the vic testing positive for a variety of STDs. No wonder his wife stabbed him four times. Men," he huffed, "always thinking with their penises. Men suck. Let me guess – this guy had a wife and nice life, right? But could he be happy with that? Noooooo, he had to give it to someone else without protection. The Neanderthal had to prove he was a man by spraying the world with his potent sperm. Am I right?" 

Glancing up at the usually docile Toxicologist, Grissom lowered his glasses and asked, "Is this your subtle way of saying you want to start working in the field?"

"What? No," Henry replied in confusion. "Let me know if you have any questions on my report." He trudged out of the room. "I'm on break."

Grissom glanced down at his crotch. "Is that why she's angry?" Shaking his head, he set out for the Print Lab.

* * *

"I got a partial," Mandy announced to Jacqui in a lifeless voice. "Is this the longest shift ever or what?" The weekend couldn't come soon enough. 

"It's 8:15, you only have 45 minutes to go, my dear."

Watching Henry hustle by her glass-walled lab without looking at her made Mandy's heart ache.

"You've been out of it all week," Jacqui remarked, growing weary of sharing her lab with the mopey Tech. "Are your pregnant sisters on your case again?"

Too ashamed to admit her secret to anyone else, Mandy lied, "Yeah."

"Hello, Mandy," Gil greeted his employee upon entering the room. "Do you have anything for me from the partials we gave you from the Jane Doe scene?"

In a haze, Mandy handed over the report. "I pieced together a full print and came up with Dawson Miller. He's an ex-con."

"Excellent." Grissom quickly scanned the page. "Doc just told me Jane Doe was pregnant at the time of her death, so our homicide is now a double." He grabbed his cell to call in the name to Sofia. "Maybe Jane told Dawson Miller he was going to be a daddy and he didn't like the news." Much to the CSI's surprise, the normally upbeat Print Tech burst into tears. _What is with everyone around here?_

"Maybe he got angry because she tricked him into sleeping with her and getting her pregnant," Mandy cried. "Some women are evil that way."

"Uh…"

"Can I take off early, boss?"

Staring at the sobbing woman, Gil nodded. "Sure."

"Thank you."

Once Mandy was gone, Gil turned to Jacqui for a clue.

"Color me just as confused." Jacqui continued her work. "I don't know, she's been one card shy of a deck since she went out on the date from hell with Sanders last month."

"That's exactly why co-workers shouldn't date." Gil punched in Sofia's number and walked into the hall with his cell to his ear. "I have a name."

* * *

"Amber," Greg stated as he fluffed the blow-up doll's locks of the same color. "That's a great name for you." He tucked her under the covers up to her waist and grabbed his wine glass from the nightstand. "Some people might think I'm weird for talking to you, but I find it therapeutic." Sitting on the edge of the bed, he said, "I don't usually tell people this, but I know you won't blab," he chuckled, "I've been in and out of therapy over the years. Nick and my parents know that, but no one else. In high school, I went to this shrink, Dr. Murphy, and he had me talk to a Barbie doll when I was working through girl problems, so you're not the first plastic babe to hear my inner thoughts. Talking to Barbie helped actually. At home, I didn't have a brother or a sister, so when I had something to get off my chest that wasn't Mommy-appropriate, I started telling Ted E, my favorite bear. If that stuffie could talk," he laughed. 

His wine glass empty, Greg stood and walked over to the dresser and filled it a third time. "Good thing I bought three bottles or Nick wouldn't get a sip. This Cab is phenomenal. Then again, it should be at sixty bucks a bottle." Raising the glass, he smiled, "But nothing's too good for the birthday boy! I'm only turning 33 once, right?" His smile faded. "One or two more blows to my skull earlier this year and 32 would have been my last birthday, so I really do have reason to celebrate and spoil myself."

After a gulp, he returned to the edge of the bed to chat with Amber, "The sommelier said this Cab was a plush, muscular wine, so I bought it to go with the plush, muscular man sharing my bed." He had been dying to brag about his fiancé to someone, but telling his friends wasn't practical since they were Nick's friends too, and other than Catherine, he knew none of them would really be up for hearing intimate details of their gay love life. "I've explored every inch of my man's body, so I'm speaking with knowledge when I say he's perfection personified."

Kicking off his shoes, he curled up on the bed. "This house is big enough for us to have a home gym, which is great for a lot reasons. The cop gym that Nick belonged to was totally intimidating, I hated going there with him." His feathers ruffled at the memory. "It wasn't just a lack of muscle that made me self-conscious, I have a bunch of scars and people can't help but stare at them - some even asked questions. It's nice not to have to deal with that anymore."

Once he polished off his wine, Greg lunged over the doll to set his empty glass on the nightstand. "The home gym is also great, because I get to watch my boyfriend crack a sweat and flex his biceps. When he's done with his workout he's _completely _ripped and his testosterone level is off the charts." Starting to feel the effects of three rapidly consumed glasses on an empty stomach, he stretched out on the bed. "My cowboy is a big time romantic, but when he comes looking for me after lifting, romance is the last thing on his mind."

Propping up on his elbow, he told excitedly told his confidant, "On Tuesday, I was up here hanging a picture on the wall when Nick walked in after his workout. He said 'hey' and when our eyes met, we knew we wanted the same thing. He was only in gym shorts and I was only in boxers. Eyes locked, we shoved our shorts to the floor and like two hungry tigers we paced toward each other until our mouths met in a kiss so hot, that I thought we'd spontaneously combust." He mindlessly ran his fingertips over his lips, while replaying the memory. "The next thing I knew I was on my back and he was standing between my thighs and rifling through his nightstand drawer. I was so caught up in the moment and Nick that I actually blurted 'maybe we could stop using condoms'. You should have seen the glare Mr. Responsible shot me as he held up a Trojan. Yeah, we're disease-free and monogamous, but shit does happen on the job with all the blood and why take a chance of passing something along, right?" He sighed, "I had a good friend who died because his partner cheated on him and gave him AIDS. After doubting Nick the other day with the party planner, I wanted to prove I completely trust him."

"Back to the good part." Rolling onto his back, Greg continued the story, "After a nanosecond of foreplay I was begging for him to take me. That wasn't a shock, because I've been doing that a lot lately. He always tells me to chill out and let him do things right, but that day, he obliged me. I figured it was because he was pumped from his workout. To say I immediately regretted rushing him would be an understatement." His sweetest chuckle pierced the air, "I was gasping in his face saying a word I won't repeat in front of a lady when Nick reached out and tenderly stroked my hair while saying 'now do you understand why I tell you no sometimes?' In that moment, I totally got it. He's always thinking of me and helping me avoid unnecessary pain and suffering in my life. Sometimes I'm just too dense, stubborn or impulsive to see it or appreciate him, so he made me feel the difference."

Greg's voice cracked as his eyes drifted to a photo of him and Nick in Catalina. "I may be an occasional idiot, but I'm smart enough to know that I'm in love with the greatest guy. He's so special, he's everything to me, and when you have everything, the last thing you need is third party intervention."

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Greg said, "I think he's trying teach me another lesson. He doesn't really want me to have the threesome." His smile returned, "You know, for a girl with a really big mouth, you're a very good listener."

* * *

"This discussion should really be between the two of you," Nick told Sara as he drove back to the lab. 

"I'm bouncing all this off you before I talk to him."

"The thing I still haven't heard you verbalize is why you don't want kids. You keep sayin' you don't, but you never say why. If I was Gris, I'd want to know why."

"Even if you didn't want kids? Why would you need to know?"

"Curiosity…to get closer to the person I love…to help if there was an issue."

Staring out the window of the Denali, Sara softly replied, "I don't want to watch my child suffer. I remember how much life hurt when I was a little girl. The world is a scary place…we see proof of that every day. Look at what happened to you and what it did to your mother and you were a grown man. Look what happened to Cassie and that little girl last month who got molested by her neighbor." She shook her head. "I couldn't handle it. It would eat me alive."

"You can't focus on the negative, Sara. You can't worry about stuff that probably won't happen."

"School will happen. Kids are vicious. I can't bring a child into this world knowing what I know about this world." She glanced over at her friend. "What if something happened to me on the job? Something terrible, like what happened to you or Greg. Think of the pain my child would go through. If something happened to Grissom and me, we don't even have family. The kid would be an orphan and reliving my foster care nightmare."

"You could name Greg and me in your will. Then you'd know your kid would have somewhere to go." He flashed a warm smile, "Somewhere with a month's supply of canned goods in the event of an emergency."

"The idea of Greg being a mommy to my child is supposed to comfort me?" she laughed. "It doesn't."

"I know he's a big goof at times, but you should see him with our dog. He's really a good parent, Sara. Seriously, you can tell a lot by how well a person cares for and train their dog. He's real sweet with Chico, spoils him too. I have no doubt that he'll do great with a real kid too." Nick bragged, "The other day, he came home from Petsmart with a bunch of toys and this deluxe microbead bed."

"The one with the suede-like cover?" When he nodded, she shook her head. "That's a disaster waiting to happen, trust me. I bought it for Bruno and he ripped it to shreds and sent those microbeads sailing over every inch of the house."

"Did you tell him not to chew it or did you just let him go to town? Because Chico started to chew it, but I firmly told him 'no' and sprayed the pillow with some of that Bitter Apple stuff and he's not tried since."

"Really? How do you keep him off the bed? Or do you let him on the bed?"

"No, ma'am." Nick explained, "We love our boy, but he's a dog and dog's paws have dirt and germs on them from walkin'. Chico sheds too. We have real expensive bedding, so it's not an option to have him jumpin' on it. The first time he tried, I yelled 'no' and shook a soda can full of coins. That sound really scares dogs. It worked like a charm."

"Where does he sleep?"

"We have a huge laundry room. We keep him locked in there with a radio on in there at a low volume. He loves it, he gathers his toys and makes himself comfortable in that bed. Before we go to work, we give him scratches and kisses and tell him good night. We have a doggie door leadin' into the backyard from the laundry room, so it's real convenient. When we come home from work, we play with him and feed him. When we go to sleep for the day, he takes a nap on this real shaggy rug Greg put at the foot of our bed. When we need privacy in the bedroom, we lock him in the laundry room though. We tried just shuttin' the bedroom door with him on the outside, but that didn't work." Nick laughed, "We learned that last weekend."

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Sara treaded cautiously, "Does it have something to do with a body part being licked by your dog?"

"Ha!" Nick shook his head, "When Greg is trashed he gets real loud in bed."

"I find it hard to believe that he's ever quiet in bed…or anywhere."

"Not often, that's for sure." After a mutual chuckle, Nick continued, "So, the big moment comes for G and he's doin' his usual drunken noise, which sounds like he's scream-singin' the word 'oh'." He mocked his lover, "'OooohhhHHH! OooohhhHHH!' All of a sudden I hear Chico howlin' along with him from the other side of the door. It was like they were tryin' to outdo each other. Greg was too caught up in the moment to notice, but I was laughin' so hard at the duet, I could barely finish."

Sara covered her eyes. "I can totally picture that spectacle…unfortunately."

"Hey now, I'm like you're brother, so don't be thinkin' about me naked in bed."

Thrilled to be laughing and in a better mood, she assured him, "Trust me, it's not a turn on when you're naked on top of Greg."

"I never said I was on top of him, that's your active imagination talkin'." Nick winked. "But I'll leave it at that."

"I can't believe he's** that** trained," Sara huffed in frustration.

"Hey! It's not like I slap a dog collar on him and make him get on all fours. That little perv begs me to…"

"I was talking about Chico!" she interrupted before her friend divulged another embarrassing detail. "I was impressed that you trained your **dog **so fast."

"Oh." Nick anxiously cleared his throat. "Yeah, he's a real good dog."

* * *

"Chico!" the tipsy dog owner barked, "Don't lick our plastic guest! If you bite her, she'll deflate!" 

Uncorking the second bottle of Cabernet, Greg willed his lover home. "Come on, Cletus!" He couldn't wait to set him straight about their gay love life. No chicks or third parties of any kind. For better or worse, it would be Sanders and Stokes Party of Two for the rest of their lives.

"I can't wait to see his reaction to you, Amber, and to what I have to say." He giggled, "Between the two of us, we're going to blow his mind." His laughter intensified, "I bet you're accustomed to blowing something else."

* * *

**ANs: **

A little shorter, but hopefully it was a lot of fun! It's a holiday weekend in the US, so I wanted to post before that and hold the bigger chapter until after.

Griss and Greg are both saying thanks, but no thanks! People seemed divided on Grissom's situation, but almost seemed to think Greg should decline 

I really enjoyed writing the Nick/Sara scenes and Nick's reasoning for Grissom's decision. Geek sperm should be preserved for times of crisis! LOL

In the next chapter, Sara will probe Grissom to see if Nick was right while the boys will get carried away, but maybe not in the way you're probably thinking LOL and someone else will be outraged by the end of the chappie!

Thanks to KJT for editing, Maryrose and my hubby for pre-reading and to everyone who is still reviewing and tossing some encouragement my way, I wouldn't be posting with zeal without you cheering me along!! Many THANKS!

Happy Holiday Weekend to anyone partying!

**Maggs **


	13. Chapter 13: Cause for Celebration Part 2

**NOTE: There is a 3,000 word difference between this version and the one on my website. If you enjoy the N/G romance details, you will probably enjoy the website version much more than this one. There are a lot of conversations and important plot details for the boys in this chapter, so I didn't want readers to skip that for fear of too much loving. **

**I had received a lot of requests for another intimate chapter for the boys (like Chapter 29 of Where You Are) and since I believed the events transpiring in this one worked well with intimacy, here it is... **

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 13: Cause for Celebration – Part 2**

"Hey," Sara greeted her boss from the doorway of his office. "Nick and I got back a little while ago. I offered to handle everything so he could take off and start his big weekend."

"Big weekend?" Gil removed his reading glasses and leaned back in his chair.

"Greg's birthday party," she reminded him. "We're going, remember? We bought him a rare edition Sherlock Holmes book, a Deerstalker Hat and a Calabash pipe. Is any of this ringing a bell or should I be worried about Alzheimer's?"

"Right, right." He tossed his pen on the desk. "Sorry, I'm preoccupied with that Jane Doe murder."

"She's still a Jane Doe?"

"Yes, and the autopsy revealed that she was two months pregnant at the time of her death."

Sara bristled when she heard 'pregnant'.

"We have a suspect, an ex-con named Dawson Miller. Sofia has him in custody."

"I take it you're here for a while?"

Gil nodded as his cell rang.

"I'll finish up my stuff and see you at home."

"You don't have to wait up."

"I know." An almost imperceptible smile followed. "But I will." She winked since Hodges was on approach. "I'll see you later."

* * *

"He's so late that I've polished off two bottles of vino," Greg grumbled as he lit the last of twelve Mood Candles. "Just a few more things to do." Nick had called from the locker room saying he was grabbing a shower and would be home shortly. "I'm going for romantic Tantric ambiance." He pressed 'play' on the stereo. "This CD is called Erotic Moods. It's supposed to stimulate the senses and inspire passion. What do you think?" 

The plastic doll was sitting under the covers, mouth gaping and eyes wide.

"You're stunned and speechless!" Greg laughed. "That's a good sign." He uncorked the third bottle of Cab so it could breathe. "Check out the stud wear I bought when I got you and all my other romance supplies." He showed off his new black lycra briefs and twirled them on his index finger. "No moose pictures or silly words on these sexy shorts. The tag says they have a built-in pouch that's guaranteed to show-off my package." While pulling off the garment tags, he told his blow-up doll/new best friend, "The cowboy thinks I'm just a silly, horny teen trapped in a thirty-something body, but today I'm going to prove that I can be a romantic and mature lover." Too tipsy to successfully stand on one leg, he tripped and fell over pulling on his underwear. "Ha! Good thing he didn't see that move!"

"G…"

Surprised to hear the doll talking, Greg shrieked.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nick asked as he walked into his barely recognizable bedroom.

"You're home!" The surprised boyfriend scrambled to his feet while tugging up his sexy new underwear. "You just called five minutes ago, so I wasn't expecting…"

"I called a half hour ago."

Greg burst into a fit of giggles. "Time flies when you're having fun."

"What kind of fun exactly?" Scratching his head, the puzzled man queried, "Why is there a blow-up doll in our bed?"

"That's Amber and she's in our bed to help me make a statement to you."

"Really? What does Amber have to say to me exactly?"

"That you, me and her are as close to a three-way as I ever want to get." Vulnerability flooding his voice, Greg stood his ground, "Don't make me screw girls, Cletus. I hear they have cooties."

"You don't want the threesome?" Nick's heart pounded in his chest. "Really?"

"No, and I really wish that you didn't want me to either. I wish that you weren't okay with other people touching me, because if you're okay with it, that probably means you want me to be okay with other people touching you and..."

"No! No, not at all. I'm not okay with it."

"Uh…I'm confused." Greg blamed the wine. "How can you not be okay with it when it was your idea in the first place?"

"Because I was a drunken idiot when I made that stupid suggestion." Nick stepped closer with a hand over his heart. "It's been tearin' me up seein' you so jazzed about goin' there."

"I was only acting that way because I thought you wanted me to be jazzed." Smiling, Greg slurred, "This is so cool! You were doing something for me, while I was thinking that I was doing something for you. It's kinda like O. Henry's Gift of the Magi, isn't it? But gay…and not at Christmas. It would really seem that way if you shaved your hair again - but don't, because I love running my fingers through it."

"C'mere, you lunatic." Relieved that they wouldn't be heading to the ranch later, Nick embraced his partner. "You have no idea how stressed I was. The thought of you bein' with anyone else, male or female, was makin' me crazy. I almost lost it at work when that new girl in Records was flirtin' with you yesterday. I freaked out thinkin' that if you liked the Bunny Ranch, you'd want to try bringin' a guy home next. I don't want that kind of relationship. I don't care if a lot of gay couples struggle with monogamy, I think we have what it takes to make fidelity happen." Their lips brushing, his said, "I wish it was July tomorrow, because I think we'll be way more relaxed once those rings are on our fingers."

After a lengthy smooch, Greg licked his lips and spoke in a dreamy wine haze, "In case you haven't noticed, I've morphed our bedroom into a romantic lair."

"A dozen candles, incense, and new age sex music…yeah, I definitely noticed, and you smell like Irish Spring, so I know you wanna get lucky." Nick caressed his lover's freshly shaven cheek. "What's goin' on, honey? What's your overactive imagination up to today?" He had a feeling it would be complicated. "Hmm?"

Emotional and inebriated, Greg rambled, "You know me - I'm always worried about my body and overall geekiness and now it's my birthday tomorrow and birthdays make everyone a little introspective, don't they?"

Just as Nick was about to answer, Greg resumed talking.

"So, in the spirit of birthday introspection, for the past few weeks I've been thinking about stuff I need to work on to feel better about myself. I thought I was doing better in the confidence department because I bounced back really fast from my insecurity crisis last week with the party planner, but then on Tuesday you shut me down when I suggested we stop using condoms."

"Shut you down?"

"You glared at me and yanked on a Trojan in record time. I'd call that shutting me down on the subject." Greg sighed, "I don't know, you not wanting to talk about it was like a red flag that maybe you're not 100 percent convinced that we're going to be together forever. I mean yeah, there's a chance of getting infected with something at work, but I don't think Doc Robbins uses a condom out of fear of work contamination, do you?"

Nick had honestly never considered the details of Doc's sex life and didn't want to start.

"On second thought, don't answer that. Thinking about Doc's sex life is kinda squicky." Too drunk to find his point, Greg kept rambling, hoping he'd discover it along the way, "I'm Boy Wonder to your Batman and the crazy thing is I'm fine with that, I don't mind being a pseudo-wife in this pseudo-het world we're living in as gay men. I love our relationship. I love how you take care of me and teach me things, but I know I still have a lot of issues to work on in your eyes, like my lack of control in the sack."

"Huh?"

"You keep making fun of me for losing it too fast during sex and telling me I need to get some control, but I did extensive research and there may be a little more to it than me just being horny and immature."

"Extensive research?" Nick was shocked to learn that he had driven his partner to obsess. "I…"

"You know how one year for humans is seven for dogs? Well, I think one tap to my prostate is like a hundred for a regular guy. But there's hope!" Greg rejoiced. "There's a good chance that I'll get less sensitive to direct stimulation over time and learn how to control my body. In the meantime, it said to use Viagra whenever longevity is critical. I have an appointment on Monday with our favorite gay-friendly physician, Dr. Willis. So, don't worry, I'll get better one way or another."

Starting to feel like he stepped into the Twilight Zone, Nick said, "I was never worried, G. I only suggested workin' on your control so **your** pleasure would be prolonged. Think about it - why would I be pissed off that I make you pop in record time? It's a compliment."

It took a minute for Greg's wine-fuzzy brain to process the information. "I never thought of it like that."

"Hold up." Nick sobered, "Does this have anything to do with why you wanted to skip foreplay?"

A nod preceded the answer. "I thought if it didn't feel pleasurable in the beginning that I'd last a lot longer."

"Why would you want somethin' to last that isn't pleasurable?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out two seconds into the suffering."

Hands stuffed on his hips, Nick asked, "Why didn't you tell me any of this? I thought we agreed to be completely honest about sex stuff."

"Why didn't you tell me about not wantin' the threesome?" Before Nick could answer, Greg's brain switched gears again, "Do you like cheesecake? I saw a billboard for the Cheesecake Factory and I think we should go there with my family tonight."

"How much booze did you drink? Because you're talkin' about your prostate, Batman, Doc's sex life, and dessert all in the same ramble. I'm the one with ADD, remember?"

"Two," Greg chuckled.

"How big were the glasses? Wait, did you **only **drink? Or did you pop some painkillers too?" When they were packing to move he found out that Greg had a prescription for Vicodin with refill privileges "You know I'm not thrilled about you…"

"**Bottles** of wine, not glasses." Greg pointed to the empties lined up on the dresser. "I totally blame Amber. She's a reeeeeally bad influence on me." Turning toward the bed, he yelled 'lush'. Then he whispered, "I think she wants to have sex with me."

"Two **bottles**?"

"I was going to share all three, but you were late."

"Holy hell." Nick shook his head, "You probably forgot to eat first too, didn't ya?" He had recently become obsessed with his diet and body image.

"No, I was starving when I was shopping at The Erotica Boutique, so I bought a pair of edible underwear and a candy penis and ate them on the drive home. Ooh! Right!" Suddenly remembering his point, Greg held up a Tantric Mood Candle and excitedly said, "I'm going to combine hot sex and high romance to prove that I can be more than just a horndog in bed. Then you'll never want to leave me."

"I already don't want to leave you. Why can't you believe me?"

"Because you called Warrick to carry the IKEA box."

Nick's frustration flared, "**Again** with the IKEA box?! Seriously? We've discussed this five times. Please tell me you're jokin'."

"No, I'm not. You still don't get it." The wine fueling his emotions, Greg got easily agitated, "You outsourced just like Jeff and Lacey. I wasn't enough for them, so they had to bring someone else into the equation and you had to bring Warrick into our home because I'm not enough for you."

"You really are bringin' this up again." Nick stood in the middle of the room shaking his head. "There has to be more to this than you're tellin' me."

"Okay, fine, there is." Uninhibited from the alcohol, Greg released a concern he hadn't been sharing, "I overheard you and Warrick talking. I heard him say it's not the gay part he can't believe, it's that you picked** me**. That of all the queers in Vegas, you couldn't do better than a wacky geek. And then you laughed! You laughed together about the wimpy geek boy just like the two of you did the first day I stepped into the Lab!"

"Is **that** it? That's your big A-Ha Moment?" Nick gaped at his partner. "I was rippin' on 'Rick about Cath, so he came back with that line you heard and there was laughter, because we were jokin' around. I'm relieved that 'Rick can crack gay jokes with me, because I honestly thought he'd be so freaked out that he couldn't even look me in the eye. I don't suppose you stuck around long enough to overhear me tellin' him about the commitment ceremony and how we're so excited that we already bought rings? I asked him…"

"If Warrick was gay would you pick him or me?"

"What?!" Nick exploded, "That's a fucking ridiculous question!"

"I don't think it is, especially since you didn't say no."

"I didn't invite Warrick over to have sex, G, I asked him here to **carry a box**, that's a huge difference in my opinion." Gripping his head, he paced the room. "You really are the kid who won't believe the stove is hot until he burns his hand. Why is it so hard for you to just believe what I'm saying? Why do I always have to demonstrate shit for you to make a point? You're the genius for cryin' out loud. I'm the one with the inferior IQ! And what about that? Do you see me worried that you're gonna dump me for Grissom or Henry because they have higher IQs than me?! No! Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, there is no such thing as a perfect person. Yes, you can't lift heavy shit, but you can do a thousand other great things and you're as close to perfect as it gets for me. Why can't you fuckin' believe me already! What's it gonna take for you to believe me?!"

Impaired by alcohol and a raging insecurity complex, Greg didn't relent, "Since my first day at the lab I've been the geeky guy trying to fit in with you and Warrick. When you called him here to lift the box and I heard you laughing about me, I was right back to being the geek who wasn't worthy of being one of the boys. Don't you get it? You made me the third wheel in my own house and it was humiliating."

"G…"

"Silly me," Greg snarked, "I thought I could be your bitch and still be one of the boys, but I guess not."

After a deep breath Nick calmly said, "Should I dismantle the furniture and shove it back in the box, so you can lift it with me? Is that what needs to happen here? Do you need to dislocate your shoulder to believe that I was worried about your injury and not tryin' to humiliate you?" He got in his face. "If we spent your birthday in the ER waitin' on an X-ray, would you feel better about yourself, G? Just let me know, because I'll start takin' it apart. Do you want me to call 'Rick over here to watch you carry it with me? Just tell me and I'll do it. I'll do **whatever it takes** to make you feel better about this. Should I get my tool box?"

"No." Staring at the Berber carpeting below his bare feet, Greg wished he could take back everything he said because he hated fighting and loved Nick.

"Why not?"

"Because taking apart the furniture would be stupid."

"Damn right it would be stupid!" Nick blasted. "This whole argument is stupid! You're being stupid! Being stupid **again** is more accurate. I'd blame the booze, but you argued the same stupid point when you were sober!"

"I know! I know I'm being stupid!" Greg whined, "I just don't know why. I was totally happy, I had this great romance plan and…I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Let's just try to get this **one thing **behind us, okay?" Nick stuffed his hands on his hips, "Are you ready to hear me this time?" After seeing a nod, he continued, "I asked Warrick here to help me carry the box because I knew if you lifted it, you'd hurt your shoulder. Yes, Warrick can lift heavy boxes better than you, but even though he can, I don't want to date, make love with, marry, or spend the rest of my life with him or any other heavy-box lifters or anyone else. Why?" He answered the question with conviction, "Because only I love **you.** I only want to make love with **you.** I only want to marry **you. **I only want to spend the rest of my life with **you.** Did you hear me that time, G?!"

Greg nodded without looking up. "I'm really sorry for doubting you."

"For doubting me **again.**" Nick stuffed his arms across his chest. "The last thing I wanted to do today was fight."

"Me either."

"Your family's comin' over tonight, your party is tomorrow - I just wanted to be happy."

"Me too. I didn't want to get you upset."

"Then why the hell did you challenge my honesty and accuse me of doin' shit behind your back?"

"I don't know!" Greg fearfully asked, "How pissed are you?" He used the scale he had heard his mother use many times. "Are you 'sleep in the guest room pissed'or are you 'packing your bags pissed' or…"

"Hold up." Watching his partner fret, everything suddenly snapped into place. "You're **trying** to get me to leave."

"That's crazy, the last thing I want you to do is leave me. It's my biggest nightmare."

"Exactly."

"Huh?"

"The second I leave for good, you don't have to worry about me leavin' anymore, or bein' cheated on, or havin' your heart ripped to shreds." Proud that he had solved the Mystery of the Manic Boyfriend, CSI Stokes excitedly explained, "You said you don't know why you start the fights, that's because you're doin' it subconsciously. Deep down you don't believe Happily Ever After is possible for you, so you're undermining our relationship." Angry at himself for yelling at an emotional and insecure drunk, he headed for the walk-in closet. "Think about that for a minute, G."

Standing in the middle of the candlelit room, Greg pondered the theory as tears formed in his eyes.

Desperate to make his partner's insecurities vanish forever, Nick reached into an empty shoebox he had been using to store Greg's birthday gifts and selected the one he thought might help. "Let's hope this does the trick," he muttered on his way out of the closet.

"I think you're right," Greg sadly agreed. "My subconscious is probably working overtime because of my birthday…because my birthday reminds me of Jeff beating the crap out of me."

"I'm not Jeff," Nick quietly stated as he moved his hand from behind his back and placed a small wrapped box in his partner's palm.

Surprised to see a gift, Greg asked, "What's this?"

"Open it and find out."

With shaky hands, the anxious birthday boy tore off the gold paper.

"Happy Birthday, buddy," Nick stated, intentionally using the same words that he knew Jeff had uttered.

Greg gasped when he saw an Omega logo. "You…" A second gasp followed the opening of the box. "You bought me a watch just like..."

"Say what you said to him."

Remembering how the words had earned him twenty-seven stitches and a re-set nose, Greg's voice cracked as he spoke them, "Thank you. It's amazing. I love it. I love the watch and…I love you." In his memory he heard Jeff cursing him out_ 'I'm not a fucking queer, you candy ass piece of shit!_' His body tensed from the memory and instinctively anticipated a blow, but instead of a right hook, he felt a tender kiss land squarely on his cheek.

"I love you too, G."

"Thank you, this is…"

"I'm glad you like it." Nick threw his arms around his partner, squeezing him tight. "Jeff was a fool to walk away from you. He knows it too - that's why he was so hell bent on gettin' another chance in Long Beach. I may not be a genius, but I'm smart enough to know that you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Happy Birthday." Cupping his face, he brought their mouths together for a tender kiss and when their lips parted, he whispered, "I can't wait to celebrate 100 more with you."

"This is like the best birthday moment of my entire life," Greg said as he wiped his eyes. "Not counting my actual birth, because I was pretty excited to get out of my mother's womb after nine months of captivity, but you can't blame me for feeling that way now that you've met my mother."

Nick helplessly fell a little deeper in love. "C'mere, I wanna see how that watch looks on you." Beaming with pride, he plucked it from the box and handed it over upside down so his observant CSI boyfriend wouldn't miss the inscription. "In case you're too drunk to read, it says 'until the end of time'. That means the same thing as **forever**, ya big dope. I'm** never** leaving."

"I believe you." Greg resumed staring at the black-faced stainless steel Seamaster watch. "I'm blown away by the symbolism and the sentiment."

"Good," Nick winked, "because that's exactly the reaction I was goin' for."

"Wait…how did you afford this watch? It had to set you back three grand and you put all the money you got from my dad for your townhouse into this house."

"I sold my championship game ball to a guy who has been houndin' me for it for years."

"The one awarded to you for being MVP?"

"Yep." Nick grabbed the open bottle of wine from the dresser. "I need a drink. Hell, I need the whole bottle after what you just put me through." Relieved the fight was over and that a major issue had been resolved, he started chugging.

"I can't believe you sold your ball. That ball meant everything to you."

"No." Nick shook his head. "**You **mean everything to me. That ball was a piece of ancient history. It represented the old Nick, the fake Nick….the guy who used to join in with his teammates and pick on the campus queers. I'm more than okay with lettin' that ball and that part of me go, believe me."

With a whimsical sigh, Greg lamented, "If only I were buying you a new display case for the ball for Christmas then we really would have a Gift of the Magi situation here."

"You're such a frickin' nutjob." Nick raised the bottle of wine in a toast. "And I thank you for bein' one, because life was really boring before I started sharin' it with you."

"Jan is going to bawl her eyes out when she hears you sold your ball to buy me this."

"I hope she didn't buy you a watch too. Speakin' of purchases…" Bringing the bottle to his mouth, Nick curiously inquired, "Are those new briefs?"

"I was hoping you'd notice."

"They're hard to miss." Nick kept lightening the mood. "Did ya stuff a sock in 'em, sweetheart?"

"Ha! No." Tearing his eyes off the watch, Greg walked to the dresser to find the descriptive tag he had ripped off the shorts. "Check this out, they have a built in pouch that gathers up the goods and makes a big bulge."

"Really?" Chuckling, Nick checked the tag. "Another breakthrough in sex technology. What else did you buy on your shopping trip today, you little perv?"

"Check the dresser," Greg busied himself popping shirt buttons for the man who was clearly about to rock his world to the liquid core. "There's more on my nightstand too."

"Jeez, was the Erotica Boutique havin' a sale?" Nick laughed upon seeing ten different items littering the dresser. "Love Dice? Micro-thin condoms?"

"They're the next best thing to nothing at all," Greg stated as if he were in a commercial touting the product. On his knees, tugging open his partner's belt, he excitedly said, "Let's give 'em a try."

"No."

"They're just as safe as…"

"I said **no**."

Greg finished unbuttoning Nick's 501s in silence. _Shut down again!_ After the fight they had just had, he wasn't about to argue.

"Hey…" Raking his fingers through the obviously disappointed man' hair, Nick explained, "I said no because I don't want to use anything."

A surge of excitement raced through him upon hearing the news. "Really?" Greg glanced up to meet his partner's steady gaze.

"Even though I didn't want to talk about it when you brought it up on Tuesday, I've been thinkin' about it ever since. It makes perfect sense. We're monogamous and have a clean bill of health." Three weeks ago, they had gone to a 'gay friendly physician' to get a sexual health physical, which included every STD test available. "As I see it, we don't need to use condoms again unless one or both of us has a contamination incident at work."

Pushing Nick's jeans to the floor, Greg grinned in anticipation.

"How about I finish up my wine while you run off to the bathroom and do whatever it is you do before we fall into bed." He chuckled, "Are you ready to divulge the details of your secret pre-sex routine?"

Greg laughed, "No, it would ruin the mystique."

"You know what I think is really goin' on? I think whenever you see the size of my package, you run into the bathroom to pee like a nervous race horse," Nick joked.

"And I thought I was the one with the delusions of grandeur." Whinnying on his way into the master bath, Greg said, "If you're hungry, there's a box of chocolate penises on my nightstand."

Nick choked on his wine. "Do they have nuts?!" He went to check for himself. "No nuts." He decided to amuse himself by biting off the heads.

"Done!" Greg announced when he finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Hey, G…are we gonna let our friend Amber watch our first trip to Bareback Mountain?"

"No," Greg laughed. "She's a fun joke, but this is kind of a significant moment in our relationship. Sex without condoms means we're completely committed to one another and trust each other with our lives. It's serious, it's like getting married."

Nick set down his box of candy and crossed the room. "You're right, it is a big deal."

"Uh oh, are you changing your mind?"

"Nope." Nick shook his head and smiled, "I'm just gettin' a crazy idea."

"I bought fuzzy handcuffs."

"Not that kind of crazy idea, ya little perv." Nick opened the top drawer of their dresser. "If we were a hetero couple livin' in Vegas, we would be drivin' to the chapel right now, but we're gay and we're not allowed, at least not yet, thanks to closed-minded bastards like my brother." Holding up their ring box, he grinned, "I still want the ceremony in July, so we can publicly declare our union…and so your mama doesn't kill me for takin' away her special day, but I want to feel united with you right now." He cracked open the box. "Dr. Henry and his partner wore their rings on their right hands as a private sign of commitment to each other and when they came out as a couple and had their ceremony, they moved them from right to left. What do you say to doin' that?"

"I'm…wow." Greg stared at the two titanium bands they had selected because the Celtic knot design continuously engraved around the circumference reminded Nick of his grandfather's wedding ring. "I'd love to, but it's not a very practical idea, because the rings match and cops are observant."

"I don't care what those assholes think. We're not the only gay couple at LVPD and the more of us that come out, the easier it gets for everyone else, right?"

"I can't believe you're the same guy who wouldn't hold my hand on Catalina Island."

"I'm not the same guy. That guy was scared and ashamed of who he was, I'm not."

"Okay." Greg's excitement notched. "Then there's only one other problem."

"What's that?"

"You're already wearing your Aggie ring on your right hand. How are you going to…oh!" Greg gasped when Nick removed his prized college ring. "You're never supposed to take that off."

"I just did." Nick beamed, ready to move forward in his life. "Let's exchange 'em in bed."

"I'll put Amber in the closet." Greg raced to grab the doll.

"I didn't know you could run that fast." Without any food in his stomach, the wine buzz was coming on strong. "Hey, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

Nick laughed on the way to the bathroom. "I really do have to pee like a race horse!"

Greg used the time to put on Volume 2 of Erotic Moods and move a couple of lit candles to each nightstand. "Hurry up, Cletus! I want my bling!"

"Jeeeeez." Nick snatched the ring box off the dresser as he dashed toward the bed.

"Did you wash your hands?" Greg joked, "I want clean bling."

"Fear not, honey, I even brushed my teeth for the ceremony." Showing off his pearly whites, Nick slid close and occupied his talkative partner's mouth with a gradually deepening kiss. "I love you," he whispered before pulling Greg's ring from the box. "I've loved every day we've shared - the good and the bad, the stupid arguments, the crazy sex and the quiet moments – all four of them." After laughing together, he took his partner's hand. "Puttin' this ring on your finger won't make us stop havin' stupid arguments, but when we're havin' one, I hope it'll remind us of the vows we've made and give us the strength to work things out." Slipping on the ring he felt a twinge of nervous excitement, "I promise to try my best and be as patient as I can. I know I won't be perfect, because I'm a hothead and you drive me crazy," he smiled wide, "but I'll always be faithful and like the watch says - I'll love you until the end of time." Holding the ring in place, he sealed his vow with a kiss. "Your turn."

"Now I'm wishing I went first," Greg said in between smiles. "That sounded great and suddenly I'm at a loss for words."

"You?" Nick steadied his partner with a tender kiss. "Just say what you feel."

"Okay, um…on this eve of my birthday," Greg immediately choked up, "after the year I've had…I feel lucky, incredibly lucky, because I'm alive and with someone who not only appreciates me, but can tolerate my random bouts of stupidity." He tugged the ring from the box. "I feel honored that you picked me to share your life and that I'm worth the grief you've gotten from most of your family. I've never been worth that much to anyone except my parents." Holding the ring with trembling fingers, he said, "I feel happy and content and a million other things that I never experienced before you held me in your arms."

Nick filled with anticipation as Greg took his hand.

"I feel proud every time you introduce me as your partner, because not only are you a great friend and a trusted co-worker and a fantastic lover…you're my hero. When I was hanging on for life in that alley, broken and bloody and terrified, I thought of you and your strength that night in the coffin…I drew from it and made it out alive. Nicholas Stokes, you're an extraordinary man in an ordinary world and I feel privileged to give you this ring." With shaky fingers, he slid the band into place. "Thank you for agreeing to be my partner in life and love. When you're a hundred, I hope you can glance down at this ring and say it was the best decision you ever made."

Although they had a long way to go, Nick knew in his heart that he'd never regret the decision.

A smile cresting on his face, Greg pulled in a deep breath and then said. "I can't promise to be completely normal, stable or sane. I'm sure I'll drive you nuts and piss you off on a regular basis, but I can guarantee that 24/7, 365 days a year, I'll be faithful and love you with all my heart." Holding the ring in place, he wildly grinned. "Because the State of Nevada won't, I now pronounce us hitched! You may kiss your bride."

Nick threaded his fingers through Greg's hair and pulled him close for a deliriously romantic kiss. "I loved what you said." It wasn't official, and they had no certificate proving the exchange, but he felt united in every sense of the word.

"It feels real to me, does it feel real to you?"

"Absolutely." They took a moment to mutually appreciate their rings in the candlelight. "I can't believe we exchanged vows in bed in our underwear."

Greg laughed, "And my mom thought barefoot on the beach was too casual for a wedding."

"There are undeniable perks to an underwear ceremony in bed…it's easy to start the honeymoon."

"Hey, have you ever used this stuff?" Greg reached for the jar and brush on his nightstand. "Kama Sutra Honey Dust."

"Can't say that I have." Nick read the label. "Dust it on and enjoy nature's sweetest gift." Curious about the taste, he twisted open the lid and coated the duster with the golden powder.

"Ooh!" Greg chewed his bottom lip as the feathered brush tickled his skin.

"This stuff is makin' you shiny like a stripper girl."

"Don't leave a mark like you did last week," Greg warned as he tugged his lover's hair, "it's not turtleneck weather and we're having dinner with my mommy."

"Aww, will your mommy yell at you if I give you a hickie?"

"No, I'm afraid she'll ask to hear the details of how I got it." Greg rolled his eyes. "She'll want to include it in the gay sex how-to manual she is seemingly writing."

Laughing with his bedmate, Nick said, "I still can't believe she sent you that article on The Bottom Diet."

Greg mocked his mother's voice and quoted her phone call, "It's not really a diet, it's a high-fiber, low-fat lifestyle plan that's a healthy choice for everyone. After all, bottoms aren't the only people who need regularity, Gregory. I started your father on it a couple of weeks ago, only I told him it was a Heart Smart diet." He giggled like his crazy mother and then rejoiced like she had, "I believe your father's constipation problems are a thing of the past! He hasn't needed an enema in over a week!"

"I don't know what's worse," Nick said as he gasped for air, "that we know way too much about your dad's ass or that your mom likes to involve herself in the inner workings of yours."

"For me it's an equally horrifying toss up." As Nick tried not to pee himself, Greg droned, "One day I might actually have to kill her and dispose of her body like only a CSI can." Breaking into a drunken-laugh, he announced, "That diet really is working great though."

Near tears, Nick crashed onto his back. "Are ya gonna tell her you're followin' it?"

"God no." He shivered, "Just think of the questions she'd ask."

"I really needed that laugh…and all the kissing…and the sex I haven't had yet that I know is gonna be great." Sharing a pillow with his soulmate, Nick grinned at him uncontrollably, "It's frickin' ridiculous how much I love you."

Greg deadpanned, "And now that my mommy has converted me to the high-fiber, low-fat food lifestyle, you can love me a lot more frequently."

"The equally enamored lovers locked eyes and breathed in unison until the sensual music and candlelight calmed them down.

"How's your birthday so far?" Nick asked in a loving whisper as he stroked Greg's hair.

"New watch, new ring, hot romance, and a promise of a lifetime of happiness." The birthday boy grinned, "It's one Carvel Ice Cream Cake away from perfection."

"Guess what I brought home for breakfast?"

"No way? Seriously?!"

Nick beamed with pride, "Who loves you, baby?"

"You do, Cletus." Greg's smile was as bright as the candles lighting the room. "I can't believe I pissed off about that damn IKEA box. I'm such a friggin' five year old sometimes!"

* * *

"How old of a child are you interested in, Ms. Sidle?" Kim Reynolds, the volunteer coordinator, queried while filling out a form. 

"Um…" Anxiously glancing around the Big Brothers/Big Sisters office, Sara asked, "What ages are available?"

"I have a waiting list with 246 names and that's just the girls. Any age, any race, any creed – you pick it, she'll be on the list."

"Okay." Saddened by the statistic, the last of Sara's doubt disappeared. "Anywhere from…12 to 15 maybe? Yeah, I think that would be good." She took a deep breath. "Bookish would probably work well, not sports-crazed or boy-obsessed, and definitely not a girly-girl looking for someone to do her hair. If she's in foster care, I could probably help her with that since I was in system."

"That will narrow it down nicely, thank you." Kim noted the requests. "And when you would you like to start being a Big Sister?"

"Um…" Sara figured it best to start while Nick's encouraging words were still in her head. "As soon as possible. I have weekends off and I could do school volunteering first thing in the morning. I get up around seven every night, but that's flexible if they needed me to go to something."

"Terrific! You'll have to go to an orientation class, but after that you can jump right in." Sensing the woman was terrified, she warmly said, "Don't worry, it'll be a piece of cake."

* * *

"Make a wish," Nick said when he lit the single birthday candle he had plunked into the Carvel Ice Cream cake. 

Sitting at the kitchen counter in his new home with his dog and partner watching him, Greg shook his head, "Usually I pull from a huge wish list, but this year...I don't have anything. All my wishes have come true."

Nick placed his hand on top of his partner's and gave it a pat. "I know I'll feel the same on my birthday too."

"Ooh! Got one!" Greg blew out the candle laughing. "I wished my mommy would leave my ass alone."

"You're not supposed to tell, ya big dope. It won't come true now."

"Damn."

"Nice goin', genius."

* * *

Leaving the community center, Sara couldn't stop smiling. _This will be good._

While grabbing her car keys out of her purse, she saw her significant other had left a message on her cell. That's when she realized she should have asked his opinion before giving away part of their weekend and bringing a kid into their lives. _Oops._

* * *

**ANs:**

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know it's late, but I've been working full-time for weeks and I'm drowning a little. But writing the story in my spare time is very relaxing, so I'll keep cranking them out as soon as I can! Our fall break is in 3 weeks and I'll have 3 weeks off to catch my breath.

This was a big chapter for the boys. I wanted to wrap up some of the issues they've been dealing with and give them so progression and fun. The next chapter will have the entire Sanders clan and hopefully some laugh out loud moments as the expanded family bonds and Jan is Jan.

Sara made a big decision and one that I think will help her finalize her feelings on motherhood one way or another. She'll tell Griss in the next chapter.

Thanks to KJT and my hubby for editing. They read the sex scenes with one eye closed and the other squinted, so if there were typos, that's why LOL!! Thanks to Veronica10 for the pre-reading and suggestions!

Loved the feedback on the last chapter and thank you to** butliz** for nominating Where You Are for a CSI Fanfiction Award**! I can't say it enough – I really appreciate everyone's support while I'm trying to keep my head above water and keep posting the story!!! I finally had a chance to catch up on replies, so if you left feedback that I had a way to reply to, then I've sent one :) **

**Maggs**


	14. Chapter 14: Cause for Celebration Part 3

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT  
****Chapter 14: Cause for Celebration – Part 3**

"Greg!" Jan shouted when she reached the top of the stairs.

With his eyes clamped shut, Greg pulled the bed covers tighter and mumbled, "Ten more minutes, Mom, pleeeeeeease."

Nick bolted up. "What's goin' on?!" When he saw his partner peacefully slumbering next to him, he figured he had dreamed the yelling.

"Nicky! Greg!" Jan called out as she strolled down the hall toward the master suite. "Your vehicles are in the garage so I know you're home!" Checking her watch, she sighed, "They're probably getting it on in the shower and lost track of time."

"G!" Nick gave him a hard shove.

"What?!"

"Your _mother _is in the house," Nick whispered. "I thought she was gonna use the key_after _she moves to Vegas so she could stop by and give Chico attention and cook and do laundry some afternoons while we were sleeping. What's she doin' upstairs today?"

"Haven't you heard the saying there's no such thing as a free meal?" Rubbing his face, Greg droned, "The price of clean underwear and a freezer full of heat and serve dinners is going to be her invading our privacy on a regular basis." He waved to his mother who was in the doorwary grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Hi, Mom." He pulled the covers to his neck. "We didn't answer because we were still sleeping, but you really shouldn't have barged in, because we could have been…discussing confidential case files."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's how you spend your time in bed."

"We honestly we do discuss case files in bed…and while we're brushing our teeth…and when we're putting away the groceries. We're only part-time lovers, but we're full-time geeks." Greg chuckled, "Our solve rates have soared since we moved in together. We're right behind Sara and Griss, but they've been hitting the sheets longer, so…"

"Whatever." She tapped her watch, "It's six-thirty. You're supposed to be at the restaurant at seven. You would have slept right through dinner if I hadn't barged in."

"Doh!" Glancing at his clock, Greg huffed, "You said you set your alarm, Cletus."

"No, you said 'got the alarm', so I said 'okay' and didn't bother."

"No," Greg corrected his bedmate, "I said 'got the alarm?' and you said 'okay' as in you'd get it."

"No, I said 'okay' as in I wasn't setting my alarm because you were setting yours."

"Ha!" Greg laughed, "This totally reminds me of that Friends Thanksgiving episode."

"Got keys?" Nick chuckled.

"Exactly!"

"Boys!" Jan snapped her fingers. "I told your father to drop me off here and then take the girls to the restaurant to put our name on the waiting list for a table. It's Friday night and The Cheesecake Factory doesn't take reservations, so it'll probably take an hour to be seated." She held up her bags, two from Nordstrom and one from Petsmart. "I have deliveries - one for each of my boys. You said that Chico loved the fleece stuffed toys, right? And Gregory, I got you this fabulous Michael Kors zip-front cashmere hoodie and a Juicy Couture shirt with this crazy face on it, it reminded me of some of the nuttier stuff you like. And Nicky, I'm trying to push you out of your conservative clothing rut a little, so I bought you a few fashion-forward sweaters and button downs."

"Fashion forward?" Nick said with a curious lilt.

Greg laughed, "That's another word for gay."

"No," she huffed. "They're just_ slightly_ less heterosexual than his usual attire." She pulled out a black button down with a large grey crest on the back. "See."

Greg lisped, "That's so gay, mother."

"I kinda like it actually." Nick admired the shirt.

"Congratulations, Cletus, you're officially a raging queer."

Jan laughed, "From the amount of supplies you two tore through on the Freyja, I'd say he has been for a couple of months now."

With indignation in his voice, Greg corrected her, "I'll have you know we donated all those condoms and bottles of lube to the poor and horny of Catalina Island."

"I'm so proud of my philanthropist son." Jan placed a hand over her heart. "Compulsive liar that he is."

"Thanks, Jan." After envisioning the shirt with his favorite jeans, Nick was excited to wear it. "I appreciate you thinkin' of me when you're shoppin'."

"You're very welcome, honey. Since your commitment ceremony is less than two months away, I thought dressing on the fringe of gayness would be a subtle way to give your co-workers who don't know about you, a hint. That way you won't shock the hell out of them by showing up at work with a wedding band that matches Greg's." When her son suddenly hid his right hand under the blanket, she grew suspicious. "What are you hiding?"

"She's gonna see at dinner, G." Nick proudly held up his right hand. "We couldn't wait, so…" Before he could finish, Jan started shrieking and clutching her head.

"I don't believe you! How could you do this to me?!"

Listening to the woman shriek, Nick said, "Now I know where you get your girly hysterics from, G."

"You ungrateful little bastards!" The outraged mother threw her shopping bags to the ground. "I have spent weeks planning and the girls were all excited to be in it, and UGH!" Too angry to speak to them, she stomped for the door.

"Jan! Jan!" Nick jumped out of bed to calm her down. "Stop! Listen!" He rushed to block her. "We're still gonna have the big ceremony! We just…"

"Dude!" Greg shouted. "You're naked."

Jan couldn't stop herself from looking…twice.

"Ugh." The squicked son rolled his eyes. "Stop checking out his package, mom."

Horrified by his faux-pas, Nick raced back to bed and dove under the covers. "I'm very sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to offend you."

"I've been going to nude beaches for decades. I'm not offended by high quality nudity." Jan chuckled, "Too bad your father wasn't here for this, Greg. His ego would love to know he'd win a Most Endowed contest by a landslide."

Greg nodded at his cringing partner. "You know when you're little and you see your dad naked and think that one day you're gonna grow up and look just like him? Well, I'm still waiting. My daddy has a porn-worthy weenie, but all I got were his brown eyes and gangly toes."

"Great, just what I needed – **more** personal information about your dad that I didn't need to know." Sighing, Nick told his crazy mother-in-law, "You know, Jan…I'm really much more conservative about sex than you, so it makes me uncomfortable to talk like this…especially when I'm in bed…naked…with your son."

After glancing around the room, Jan picked up a jar of Kama Sutra Honey Dust and a box of chocolate penises. "Conservative, huh?" As Nick cringed she continued to take inventory. "Three empty wine bottles, two dozen sex products, and a blow up doll in your walk-in closet. I'm no CSI, but this evidence doesn't scream conservative to me."

"We're on our honeymoon, remember?" Greg held up his right hand. "We kicked it up a notch."

"Thank you for reminding me." Jan's ire returned. "I can't believe you put the rings on before the ceremony! Now what are you going to do to symbolize your commitment? Shake hands?"

"We're gonna move the rings from our right hands to our left," Nick explained. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't wait to have somethin' that said we're together forever."

Jan melted when she saw Nick take her boy's hand and smooth his thumb across the band. "Aright, fine. I think moving the rings from right to left will be lovely actually. I'm sure the minister will be able to re-work the ceremony wording to accommodate the change."

"Minister?" Greg laughed. "The only time you ever took me to church was for weddings, Mom. How do you even know a minister?"

"Jillian found her when she attended services at a gay church in Dallas. Her name is Reverend Hale. Your mother was very impressed with her, Nick."

"Really?" He was stunned. "She didn't tell me any of this. I didn't even know there was a gay church in Dallas."

"Yes, it's called New Hope Church and it's not small, it's a mainstream megachurch with nearly 3,000 members. I forget which denomination it's sanctioned under, but it's one of the bigger ones. Your mother went there to speak with one of the ministers in private. After several sessions, I'm happy to report that she no longer believes that you'll burn in hell for bein' gay hell, Nicky."

"When did she tell you all this?"

"We speak almost daily, honey," Jan informed him with a smile. "New Hope Church conducts gay weddings and your mother toyed with the idea of asking you to get married there because she thought it _might _turn your Holy Roller sisters around. Ultimately she decided not to because she was concerned how it would affect the family name and your brother's campaign since he's been very outspoken against gay marriage. The ceremony did sound lovely though. I checked out the church's website and it is beautiful place. They would give your a real marriage certificate, not that it gives you any rights here in Vegas, but it's something. I was all for it, because it would have been very classy and there are some lovely places to hold a reception in Dallas."

"G…" With a gleam in his eye, Nick asked, "Do you have your heart set on a beach ceremony? Because I think a church wedding would be real nice."

"You do, huh?" Staring at his grinning partner, Greg asked, "Do you want to get married in the church because it's spiritually important to you? Or because you think it will help your family be more accepting of us? Or do you just want to do it because it will piss off your daddy?"

"Honestly?" Sitting up taller, Nick excitedly replied, "To have a real minister in a real church pronouncin' us married in the eyes of God will get a lot more respect from my family than a barefoot ceremony on the beach. It probably won't be enough to persuade my twin sisters, but I think it would be enough to get Nancy and Marcia there, instead of just Gwen. And I bet my Aunt Katie would come and some of my cousins." He took his partner's hand and gave it a squeeze, "I'm an old-fashioned guy and kinda like the idea of havin' our union blessed in a church…and I think it would be a lot of fun to show you where I grew up and the places I used to go. Like you got to do in California with me. We may not get an invite to the ranch, but I could bring ya to Gwen's house."

"Okay, I can see that being special." Greg stared down his mate. "Any other reason you want to get married in Dallas?"

Nick burst into a shit-eating grin, "Hell, yeah, there's one more reason. If my gay wedding is the talk of the town, then my brother and father will freakin' lose their minds! Whaddya say?"

"I say…" Greg whooped, "Yee haw! We're goin' to Dallas, cowboy! I'd love to help you piss off your pompous, closed-minded brother and complicate his Neo-Con life."

"Me too." The proud PFLAG parent raised her hand. "I'm also thinking as a gay rights activist. A Stokes family member getting married at New Hope Church would be a huge victory for the Dallas gay and lesbian community. Nicky, it might give other people in your position the courage to come out to their conservative families – especially if they know your family attended."

"My father still won't come," Nick assured them. "He's pretendin' I'm not gay and my parents haven't told anyone, not even their closest friends. That's why it'll be a big shock to have Stokes and Sanders Wedding on the marquis."

Jan huffed, "If the Vice President of the United States doesn't hide his lesbian daughter, why is a Supreme Court Justice hidin' his son? Why isn't he at least doin' the same as his political contemporary? He should at least be acknowledging you while not condoning your lifestyle."

"Here's my idiot brother's answer to your question." Nick spoke with Chuck's arrogant tone, "Cheney wouldn't be sayin' a damn thing if he had a gay son gettin' his ass pounded instead of a daughter who liked to munch rug. Men don't give a shit about two women gettin' it on, it's our biggest fantasy'."

* * *

"Wendy," Hodges groaned, "oh, yeah…yeah…spray a little more whipped cream on Mandy. That's it…good girl." Writhing under the covers with his eyes clamped shut, the sleeping man watched his biggest fantasy come to life in full Technicolor and surround sound. "Oh yeah, yeah…"

Unfortunately his vintage Howdy Doody alarm clock on his nightstand sounded and ended the fun.

"No!" He shrieked when he realized it had been merely a dream. "No!" It had seemed so real." They were at Greg's birthday party on Saturday night and both women had fallen hard for him. When he broke the news to them and prepared to choose, the girls kissed and said 'Why choose when you can have twice the fun, stud?'

Staring at his tented boxer shorts, the lonely Lab Tech slid out of bed and trudged to the shower to take matters into his own hands…just like he did every day upon waking up…just like he would be handling things twenty years from now if he didn't find a partner to fill the void. He used to say that super geniuses were destined to live solitary lives, but then Grissom ruined the juicy rationalization by inviting Sara to share his home and his life.

* * *

"I'm home" Gil announced as he entered the house. Exhausted and ready to sleep for the next twelve hours, he dropped his belongings. "Sara?"

With Bruno at her side, Sara rushed into the living room. "We dozed off waiting for you."

"Sorry I'm so late." He pecked her cheek and knelt down to scratch Bruno's head. "We believe the Jane Doe is a woman named Teresa Martinez. We're waiting for a positive ID from a family member. I would have been home an hour ago, but Ecklie pulled me into a meeting he was having with the DA and their newest hot shot attorney."

"A hot shot, huh?" Sara joked, "Is he a _hot _hot-shot? Catherine will want to know if she should send her tightest court suit and lowest cut silk blouse to the dry cleaners."

"The hot shot's name is Carrie Blake and unless Catherine's taste has significantly changed, she won't need to dry clean her best suit." Gil kicked off his shoes. "This woman is five foot three, 110 pounds soaking wet, and she looks sweet as pie, but two minutes into a conversation with her and you realize she's a pit bull in disguise. I'm going to warn everyone that they better have their ducks in a row if they're testifying on her watch."

"Great, another 24 year old hothead just out of law school who thinks they can change the world until they find out the pay sucks and the hours are suckier." Sara rolled her eyes. "She'll last two months and then quit to work corporate law just like the rest of them."

"No, she's 30 and was hired in as an ADA. She's passionate about her career because her 9 year old childhood best friend was molested and raped by their coach while taking private swim lessons."

Sara got goosebumps thinking about an innocent child going through that kind of hell.

"The coach never touched Carrie because her 16 year old brother Paul accompanied her to private lessons, but one afternoon Paul asked the coach if it would be okay for him to come back at the end of the hour – he wanted to secretly meet up with this girlfriend who was leaving for summer camp. He was gone for about two minutes when he got this gut feeling something was wrong. He hurried back to the coach's house and caught the bastard sliding his sister's hand inside his swim trunks."

"Whoa." Sara shivered.

"You'll love this." Gil excitedly relayed the rest of the story, "The brother was a huge fan of police dramas and he knew from watching rape case episodes, that if he grabbed his sister and ran, the coach would deny everything and they would have no proof the incident had occurred. So, he jumped out from behind the bush and told his sister to 'scratch the coach's wiener really hard' and then he ordered her to run. After she did as told, he grabbed her and ran to the neighbor's house screaming for them to call the police. When he was brought in for questioning, they found the scratches on his body to corroborate the story and the scrapings under Carrie's fingernails. The coach called it a set up, accusing the Blakes of trying to get money in a lawsuit, but when Carrie's best friend heard what happened, she broke down in tears and told of her own ordeal. The coach had threatened to kill her family if she exposed him, and she had been too frightened to speak up. Five victims stepped forward within a week and the coach ended up behind bars."

"That is a good story. Now I'm looking forward to meeting her."

"You already know her brother; he's Captain Paul Blake from the Sex Crimes division over in Henderson. We worked with him a few times, most recently on the rape and murder of that ten year old girl found in a garbage can - Keisha." Sighing, Gil removed his jacket. "After hearing Carrie's story, it's easy to see why he wanted to be a cop when he grew up. Saving someone you love and helping put an animal behind bars would give a 16 year old boy a rush and make him hungry for more busts."

"Have you ever met a person you didn't analyze?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nope." After they shared a laugh, she asked, "Did Ecklie the Pig try to hit on her?"

"No, he called her a Femi-nazi and declared her a lesbian."

"In his world lesbian means 'woman who doesn't find me attractive'."

"I believe you're right," he chuckled. "Enough about work." Taking Sara's hand, Gil strolled for the bedroom. "Let's talk about you. How much sleep did you get?"

"Not much. I was too preoccupied." Remembering the news she had to share, she tensed.

"What did Bruno do this time?" he droned as they strolled into the bedroom.

"Nothing."

The boxer followed his owners over to the bed and reclaimed his divot in the comforter.

"So what were you preoccupied about?" Gil popped open the buttons of his beige shirt while waiting for an answer.

"Case stuff." It wasn't a lie. "And Greg's birthday…we almost didn't get to celebrate it this year and look at everything he would have missed out on if he had died. That's stuck in my head."

"Yeah." Thinking of his own mortality, Gil sat on the edge of the bed and sighed, "I'm sure Greg's feeling a little reflective and solemn about the day too."

* * *

"Time for another round of shots, Jan!" Greg cheered as he approached the Cheesecake Factory bar with his mother. She already had one at the house while he and Nick had two"After the year I had, I'm celebrating my birthday for 48 hours straight! Straight…ha!" He snapped his fingers. "Bartender! Four shots of your smoothest tequila, por favor! And keep the bottle handy, 'cause I'm drinking on my Daddy's tab."

"None for me!" Dave yelled over the din while holding up his Scotch. "I'm already on my second double and I'm not mixing. I'm waaaay too old for that shit," he laughed. "Believe it or not, back in the day I could drink you under the table, Nick."

"Yeah, I hear ya about the age-factor. I've been on the downhill slide since thirty." Nick laughed, "Hell, I only have two shots in me and I'm already feelin' it. Back in college, I wouldn't have noticed a difference until I downed five." He pointed to Greg swaying at the bar. "This is why we took a cab here, Jan. One more round, G! Then we're gettin' some food in ya and switchin' to beer!"

"I love how protective you are of him, Nicky." Jan smoothed her palm over her future son-in-law's back. "You're his lover, but you're still his best friend. That's a really good sign that your relationship will stand the test of time."

"Yes, ma'am. It most certainly will."

Watching her son explain to the bartender that it was his 'lucky to be alive birthday celebration weekend', Jan said to her husband and Nick, "I knew it was a good move letting the girls have a sleepover at Mama Evelyn's." When she was at the house, Dave had called her cell to say the restaurant had a 90 minute wait and the girls, who hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks, were begging him to just grab a pizza and let them have a quiet girls night. "One more, Gregory, and then I'm done with tequila for the night. I'm too old to keep up with you."

"He can't keep up with himself," Nick informed his future in-laws. "You should have seen him after the two bottles of wine earlier."

"Bottoms up!" Greg joked as he handed his lover and mother glasses, "Sorry, that's your line, Cletus."

"That's right."

Standing in the corner of the packed bar with his family, Dave cringed behind his tumbler.

"Oh, come on, Dad!" Greg needled, "I'm heading to the chapel in seven weeks and you** still** can't think of me having sex with Nick without cringing? I stopped cringing at you and mom having sex years ago…except that time I caught her on her knees in the kitchen gooping you up with chocolate syrup while only wearing her Christmas apron."

"It was chocolate Fondant," Jan corrected as she turned to Nick. "Greg and his best friend Becca came home from Stanford for Christmas break a day earlier than expected and I had been drinking a lot of wine while prepping all the food and Dave came downstairs wearing his old Santa costume that he used to put on for Greg every year and to make a long story short, Santa was stressed from Christmas deadlines and Mrs. Claus decided to coat his peppermint stick and take his mind off work for a little while."

"Sorry about the cringing, son," Dave said trying to change the subject and get Nick to stop imagining Jan on her knees with a mouth full of fondant and flesh. "I really do try."

"You try to think of me having sex with Nick?" Greg teased, intentionally trying to fluster his father. "Do you picture me on top? That's my new favorite position."

"G!" Nick smacked his smartass partner upside the head. "Leave the poor man alone and be thankful he's still talkin' to you, unlike my father."

"You've gone versatile?" Jan gasped recovering from the tequila.

"Hell no!" Nick quickly and vehemently answered as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "We know our places, right, G?"

"Yep." Laughing, Greg unconfused his mother, "I meant like when a woman is on top, Mom."

"Oh!"

"People! Why the hell are we talking about this stuff here?" Dave shook his head. "Even if the bar is too noisy for anyone to hear us, I can't believe we're having this conversation in public."

"Geeeez, when did you become a prude, Dad?" Greg informed his partner, "When I was little, my 'rents threw wild pool parties once a month. In the morning I'd go looking for tossed bikini tops. I'd find them in the pool house, in the bushes, even in my treehouse." He needled his father, "So have you gone conservative, Daddy-O, or is it just gay sex you can't joke about?"

Since he had a couple of strong drinks in him, Dave didn't hold back, "You want to know why I cringe, son? I'll tell you why I cringe." He pointed at Nick. "It's your smug attitude about being the top that makes me cringe. Whenever sex comes up in conversation, you puff out your chest and make sure everyone knows that Greg isn't allowed to touch your ass, but you're entitled to his whenever you snap your fingers. I **hate **that." He imitated Nick's accent and body language, "'Hell no! We know our places.'"

"What?" Upset by the statement, Nick protested, "No, I…"

"Yes! Yes, you do." Dave shot back. "As a father, it's hard for me to hear you treating my son like a piece of meat." After a breath, he said, "I think you're a great guy, Nick, I really do, **except** when you're making sure everyone knows my boy is your bitch. I've** never** demeaned my wife in front of people like that - and don't tell me that it's a gay culture thing, because I have gay friends who have been together for over two decades and I've never heard Larry flaunt his top status and he's a big, macho guy."

"Dad! Chill, okay. No more Scotch for you." Surprised and touched by his father's reaction, Greg said, "I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do, but you're wrong. I'm allowed to touch my man's ass whenever I feel like it, isn't that right, Cletus?"

Mortified to be involved in yet _another_ Sanders Family sex discussion, but desperate to make Dave feel better, Nick quickly nodded.

"See!" Greg clarified, "And about a month ago, he even insisted that we switch roles to be fair. We both found it to be mutually awful to be in the opposite role, so that's why he said 'we know our places'. Okay?"

"Were you sober or drunk at the time?" Jan giggled, "Because I only find it fun when I'm plastered, Nicky. And if it was Greg's first time in the lead, I'm sure he stunk, because he's always been a little slow when it comes to learning new physical activities. He didn't ride a bike until the 2nd grade and it took him an entire summer to learn how to swim across the pool."

"Mother." Greg shook his head. "So not helping."

"Okay, fine, **this time** I was wrong," Dave huffed, "but you have to admit that you've made other comments on other occasions. When I was out here on moving day, I heard you laughing about it with Warrick. Maybe I'm overly sensitive because I heard Greg being bullied and belittled his whole life…geek, dork, loser, freak, faggot, fairy, you name it, but as a father it's important for me to know that my child is going to be respected by his spouse and not be the butt of every joke."

"My dad said butt," Greg gasped air as he laughed. "And considering the context…ha…damn, I'm plastered for the second time today. I love my birthday."

Ignoring his intoxicated son, Dave dropped a hand on Nick's shoulder and spoke from the heart, "When you're a parent I'm sure you'll feel the same way when it comes to your child, so I hope you understand where I was coming from."

"Absolutely, Sir." Nick nodded at the concerned father. "I promise that I won't even crack jokes about it in front of you anymore."

"Thank you." Dave set his empty Scotch glass on a ledge. "I would have been more tactful without the booze."

"That's okay, I appreciate you tellin' me how you feel, because I want us to have the best relationship possible." Nick sobered, "Having your respect is more important to me than ever now that my father is ignoring my existence."

"Come here." Feeling bad, Dave stepped forward and gave the rejected son a bear hug. "We may disagree on things from time to time, but I'll always be here for you, Nick...unless you break my boy's heart of course, then I'll kill ya."

"Not gonna happen." Watching his partner laugh by himself, Nick sighed, "I'm afraid I'm addicted to the lunatic." Reaching out he grabbed Greg's hand, yanking him close. "God help me."

"Aww." Jan snapped a photo for her scrapbook.

"It's the paparazzi, Cletus!" Greg covered his face while his mother tried to take pictures. "They want a scandalous photo for the Dallas society page." He posed provocatively while doing a voiceover, "Nicholas Stokes, son of Justice William Stokes and brother of Republican House of Representatives candidate Chuck Stokes was seen wearing a queer shirt and vigorously Frenching a gay geek tonight. The photo is a little cheesy, but they were at the Cheesecake Factory, so…"

"Stop it, Gregory!" Jan huffed, "I want a** nice** photo."

"Sanders Party of four!" Cambree, the perky hostess called into the bar.

"Ooh! Right here!" Jan almost fell over waving at the girl. "Those shots are hitting me hard, Gregory. Hold onto me as we walk."

"Mommy's a lush," Greg told the imaginary tabloid reporters while navigating the bar crowd.

"I'm partying because I'm a full-time mother again and this will probably be my last night without having a child to tend to for a while….and because it's your birthday."

"We're driving Dad crazy."

"I'm make him forget his worries later." She giggled, "In honor of your birthday, I may even go gay tonight and let your father in the backdoor."

"Are you trying to make my ears bleed, Jan?" Appreciating his wacky mother's love and ability to joke about his love life, he scolded, "I can't believe you bashed my ability to top. You assumed I was bad just because it took me years to learn to ride a bike…ha!"

"Sorry, honey." She giggled as they strolled into the bustling restaurant. "Were you good?"

"God no, I stunk." Sliding into the booth, he cringed at the memory. "It was like two guys breaking down and having prison desperation sex and Nick lost the coin toss."

Jan placed her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Menus are on the table and your server will be right with you," Cambree stated before darting off.

Since their men were taking their time arriving, Greg confided in his open-minded mother, "Nick said he'd let me try it again now that we're not using condoms, because I've never gone without and he thinks I should experience it at least once in my life. I plan to take him up on it one night when I'm drunk but not too drunk to..."

"You're barebacking?!" Jan blurted in a whisper.

"You're killing me with the lingo, Jan."

"I don't approve, Gregory." Her eyes narrowed. "Stop laughing! I'm being serious – I'm not happy about this decision."

"There's no reason to worry. We were tested for everything, things I'd never even heard of, and we're squeaky clean."

"What if he…"

"Not gonna happen."

"You can't say that with 100 percent certainty."

"I just did," he serenely replied. "This morning we shed our clothes, morphed into swans, and mated for life." Taking his mother's hand, he assured her, "Nick won't cheat on me. I'd bet my life on it."

"You **are **betting your life on it, son."

"Don't go all 'Afterschool Special', Mother." He pleaded with his eyes. "Think about what you're saying…did you make Dad wear a condom after you got engaged?"

"These are different times in a different world, sweetheart."

"True, but Nick's an old-fashioned guy." Tequila and happiness surging through him, he dreamily said, "And I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else."

"Hi there! I'm Tawny!" The bubbly blonde waitress greeted her newest customers. "How are you doing tonight?"

Feeling a strong buzz, Jan cheerily replied, "Wonderful!"

Eye-to-eye with a pair of D-cups, Greg said, "Hello!" Chuckling, he lifted his eyes to the girl's face. "Whoa, I'm getting the strangest sense of deja vu. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so. No." She smiled at the men sliding into opposite sides of the booth. "Hi, I'm Tawny. Welcome to the Cheesecake Factory. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"Just a glass of ice water," Jan said, still feeling the tequila burn in her throat. "My son made me do shots and I need to regroup."

"Ooh, are you guys celebrating something?"

"It's my birthday tomorrow and the 'rents are taking me and my…" Greg gushed a smile at Nick and nudged him with his elbow. "What are you now that you're wearing my ring on your right hand? Definitely more than a boyfriend, but not spouses until we say 'I do' in the chapel, right?"

"Yeah." Looking forward to the day he could officially say 'spouse', Nick rested his arm on the back of the booth so Greg could rest against it. "I guess it's still partner."

"I kinda figured you guys were a couple." Tawny smiled.

"Why?" Nick asked out of curiosity.

Tawny winked at the dark-haired man. "A guy as hot as you wearing a flamboyant shirt like that…totally gay."

"Ha!" Greg lisped, "I told you that shirt screamed queer, mother."

Dave smiled at the gorgeous young lady. "My family is wacky, but I tip well."

"Tweeters!" Greg shouted and pointed at the waitress. "The billboard next to The Erotica Boutique on Tropicana! That's where I know you from. You're wearing a skimpy gold costume and saying 'come watch me shake my tail feather'. Am I right?"

"Tweeters?" Dave said, thinking of Hooters.

With his eyes on the menu, Nick explained, "It's a high-end gentleman's club that caters to clientele with cash – high rollers, rappers, celebs, sports pros."

Dave chuckled to himself when he saw his future son-in-law checking out the menu instead of the babe. Geez, you really are gay.

"Yeah, I figured that's where you knew me from." Tawny laughed, "I didn't want to say anything in case it would get you in trouble with your mommy."

"I knew it!" Greg boasted, "I'm a CSI for LVPD, so I'm a very observant guy."

* * *

"Something's on your mind, Sara." Propped up on an elbow in bed, Grissom studied his lover's eyes. "And it's not a case or Greg's birthday."

She glanced at Bruno. "For once I'm the one in the hot seat instead of you."

Gil's concern grew. "Sara…"

"It's nothing bad," she began. "I'm just not sure you'll like what I did."

"There's only one way to find out."

"The vasectomy thing has been bothering me. You have to know that."

"Yes, I've been wearing an extra sweater all week because of the chill."

Sara rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "I was bitchy at the scene today and Nick asked me what was wrong and before I knew what happened, I blurted everything to him."

Stunned by the news, Gil huffed, "You talked to Nick about my testicles?" He gaped at her. "How would you like it if I spoke to Catherine about your uterus?"

Glaring at her lover, she asked, "You haven't, have you?"

"No, I was illustrating a point and considering your offended reaction, I think I proved my point." Sitting up against the headboard, he said, "Our reproductive systems shouldn't be used as conversation starters while killing time in the field."

"I wasn't killing time, I was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown." Sitting up to see eye-to-eye she said, "And talking it through with a guy made me get it."

"Get what?" he asked, feeling humiliated and lost.

"I get why you changed your mind about getting snipped. It doesn't have anything to do with wanting children." Smiling, she shared, "Nick theorized that you want to have sperm left to help repopulate the post-apocalyptic world."

"What?!" He shook with laughter.

"Is that not why?"

"No." He released a second round of laughter. "No offense to Nick, but sometimes his deep thoughts are very shallow."

"He also thought since you're a Biologist, that you have all this 'survival of the fittest' BS in your head and you'll feel like a weak, old species if you lose the ability to reproduce."

"Oh." Gil stopped laughing. "Yeah, that was it."

"Really?"

"I was sitting in the waiting room and I picked up a copy of National Geographic. I saw two male hippos fighting over a female and I panicked. I fled the office clutching the magazine with one hand and my balls with the other."

"But I'm the only female you need to worry about and I'll love you the same with or without sperm. Actually, I'll love you more without sperm, because then we won't have to use condoms and I won't have to worry every month."

"Did Nick say he'd get snipped if he were me?"

"Yeah, he would, but first he'd make a few deposits in the sperm bank, so if there was an apocalyptic event, he could still help re-populate the world. He thinks geeks like us would be obligated to make a geek baby, because the new world will need as many geniuses as it can get. He and Greg will fill turkey basters and find geek girl survivors to make geniuses of their own."

"How generous of them." Sliding back onto his side, Gil clicked off his bedside lamp and relaxed, "So that's what was on your mind?"

Sara nodded. "Yep, that was it." She clicked off her bedside lamp, pecked his cheek, and settled in under the covers. "Night."

"Maybe I should get the vasectomy."

* * *

"I'm pregnant," Mandy confessed to Jacqui as she stopped in front of the Motherhood maternity store in the mall.

"Greg?" Jacqui blurted. "Wait…if you're pregnant with his baby, then why are we here shopping for a birthday gift for him? You're already carrying his spawn, what more could he want?" She chuckled, "I don't suppose I could just sign your card and…"

"No." Tears forming in her eyes, Mandy shook her head. "It's not Greg's baby."

"Damn. Now we'll still need to get a gift."

"Jacqui!"

"Sorry." It was time for another guess. "Warrick?"

"No!"

"Please not Hodges." Jacqui wracked her brain for something positive to say in case the answer was tragically 'yes'.

"It's Henry's baby," the mother-to-be cried as she watched glowing women shop for maternity-wear. "And he hates me."

"Thank God."

"What? Why are you thanking god that Henry hates me. Were having a…"

"No, I was thanking god that you hadn't slept with Hodges."

"Oh." Mandy's smile gave way to a laugh. "Thanks for making me see that the situation could be worse."

"Do you want to go inside and…"

"No." As a happy couple holding hands strolled into the store, Mandy's smile faded. "I'm dying to check things out, but everyone's coupled up and I'll feel like a loser."

"Come on, honey! Don't be shy, let's go in!" Jacqui boisterously directed her pretend-partner. "Our baby will be here before you know it." She yanked her into the store.

Too busy laughing to cry, Mandy hurried inside. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah." The supportive co-worker joked, "I'm drawing the line at paying child support."

* * *

"Have you ever thought about being a surrogate mother, Tawny?" Jan continued analyzing the girl's bone structure while the men inhaled the food she had just delivered.

"You mean like get impregnated for someone who can't have a baby of their own?"

"Exactly."

"Can't say that I have, why?"

The desperate grandmother grinned, "You said you wanted to give up stripping, but couldn't afford it, right? If you offer your gestation services to the right people, you would be compensated very well. And while taking it easy, you could study for your GED and start taking online college classes. The right family might even let you move in and take care of you…nurture you, and make you feel like part of the family."

"Really?" The desperate girl queried, "Like how much?"

"Some people have been known to pay a hundred grand plus room and board and college tuition."

"Seriously?!"

"Uh, Mother…" Greg stopped chewing and gaped at her. "Are you commissioning our waitress's uterus while she serves us dinner? Do I get a say? After all, it's my sperm."

"If anyone gets a say, it's me, it's my cash." Slicing his steak, Dave said, "You are just drunk and kidding about all this, right?"

"Look at her!" Jan pointed to the girl. "She's a Nordic beauty. She'd make beautiful babies with our boy."

"OH!" Feeling silly for not catching on, Tawny said, "You want a grandkid and your son is gay. I get it."

"Here's my phone number, sweetheart." Jan handed over her business card. "If you ever want to discuss the matter, just give me a ring. Or if you ever need a stand-in mommy." The poor girl had shared her tragic life story and she wanted to reach out. "I've recently adopted a fourteen year old girl and in a few weeks we'll be adding an eleven year old girl to our family. Both of them have sad stories like you, you poor girl."

"Thanks." Tawny tucked the card in her pants pocket for safe keeping. "Too bad I didn't meet you when I was sixteen instead of twenty-one."

After a sip of beer, Nick asked, "So are ya gonna find a girl for my sperm too, Jan?"

"Don't worry," Tawny winked, "for a hundred grand a kid, I'll do it twice." Laughing, she joked, "I'd even have sex with you."

"Hey!" Greg nearly choked on a shrimp. "What is that supposed to mean? Impregnation by turkey baster for my kid?"

"Aww." Tawny ruffled the geek's mop of hair. "I was only kidding, Chuckles. I'm an exotic dancer, I don't even like boys."

"Right." He didn't believe her.

"Hey, maybe we could do a sperm cocktail and luck out with twins from different daddies." Tawny giggled, "The double daddy thing happened on a soap opera I watch."

"Tawny!" the restaurant manager yelled. "You have more than one table y'know!"

"Oops." She flustered. "Gotta go. We'll have to talk out the sperm details later."

* * *

"Have your sperm frozen," Sara said, hoping Gil would like the idea. "That was Nick's suggestion. Then you can have the vasectomy, but know that you could produce a geek baby if called upon after the apocalypse. And the procedure is reversible if you dump me for a kid-crazy babe."

"You're the only babe crazy enough to want me, Sara." Gil rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "You were supposed to protest the validity of my statement by saying lots of women would want me."

"Oh." She laughed after a few seconds.

"Fine." He breathed deep. "I'll make a new appointment."

"Really?"

"Yes," he answered upon meeting her eyes. "Before they get snipped though…"

"You think you deserve a little spoiling?"

"I don't know." Gil smirked, "What would your buddy Nick say if you asked him?"

* * *

"Do it!" Nick goaded Tawny. "It'll be fun."

"I don't know," she pondered the proposition while wiping the table. "It sounds a little mean."

"If you knew Hodges, you'd have no problem saying yes."

Greg nodded. "What he said."

Even Jan had to agree. "The man is as irritating as they come and he's been torturing my boys ever since he found out they were gay. He's held it over their heads, threatened to out them, told endless jokes, you name it. He definitely deserves some payback."

Dave sipped wine and let the lunatics plot.

"Okay," Tawny giggled, "I'm in." They offered to pay her $300 for her performance and all the food and drink she cold inhale at the party. "It'll be an easy gig compared to the private parties I usually work. I know a bunch of LVPD guys won't force themselves on me."

"Yessssss!" High-fiving his partner, Greg cheered, "Thank you, Tawny! Sweet revenge on Hodges is exactly what I wanted for my birthday!" He slurred, "This is gonna be grrrrrrrrreat."

* * *

**ANs: **

Thanks for reading!

If you don't know who Carrie, Tawny and Becca are – they are OCs from my other CSI series. Carrie meets Nick in a courtroom and they bond over their childhood abuse stories and eventually fall in love, Tawny is the stripper Greg has a 1 night stand with and gets pregnant, Becca is Greg's best friend just like she was mentioned to be in this story.

For everyone reading who know who Carrie, Tawny and Becca are - have you ever seen the movie Sliding Doors with Gwenyth Paltrow? It came out in 1998 and the movie is told in 2 parallel stories all based on 1 alteration in fate – the main character slipping through the sliding doors of her tube car in London just in time and the other version shows what happened because she didn't make it through the sliding doors before they closed in front of her. I love the movie's premise and this chapter is my homage to it. I believe that life can be altered by 1 event, but that some people are just destined to cross paths no matter what happens.

FYI – there is a gay megachurch in Dallas called Cathedral of Hope that is part of the United Church of Christ (4th largest Christian denomination). I changed the name of the church and ministers in the story to keep things fictional.

Thanks to KJT for editing as quickly as I sent the scenes! And to my hubby and Veronica10 for pre-reading and making suggestions.

I found a little time last week and caught up on replies, so if you commented on the last 3 chapters, you should have a reply from me : ) Check the guestbook, if you didn't leave an email addy you don't get a notification of the reply. Thanks for your support of the story and to the reader who nominated The Day Before You in the CSI Fanfiction awards, WIP-Vegas category!

**Next Chapter – it's party time! And no, Sara still hasn't told Gil about the Big Sister thing. **

**Maggs **


	15. Chapter 15: Planning for the Future

**AN: The party won't begin until the next chapter. I didn't want you to read thinking it would happen in this one. I had a few things to take care of before that chapter and it was awkward to split it here. Because I wanted to get it out and work on getting the party chapter out quickly, I had my husband edit until KJT's schedule permits. LOL just in case you see typos, she hasn't lost her touch! Lastly, if you don't read Nick and Greg sex scenes, you don't have to worry about this chapter even if a scene starts out looking like you might. It's the same chapter posted in both places. **

**I hope you enjoy…**

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 15: Planning for the Future**

"This place is hilarious," Greg remarked in a drunken laugh as he took in the gaudiness of Tweeters. "This décor here is even over of the top for Vegas." Every glitter-drenched stripper was wearing a bird feather thong and some were perched above the lusty male crowd on swings and in cages. "How much money do you think it takes for the caged birds to sing?"

"I don't know. I'm so glad I'm done with places like this." Nick relaxed in the booth and lifted his beer. "As soon as Tawny's set is over and we do what we said, we're out of here." Instead of paying her for the practical joke, she had asked that they come to Tweeters and give her the $300 as a tip for an impromptu lap dance in the open so the high rollers in the club that night would think she's worth that kind of cash and request her presence in the champagne room. "Here she comes, G. Are ya ready?"

"You're gonna get jealous, Cletus."

"I'm sure I will." Nick laughed as he waved cash. "Glitter!" he called her by her stripper name. "It's my buddy's birthday. Can you give him a hug?"

"Aww, what's your name, cutie?"

"Whatever you want it to be, sweetheart," Greg replied in a sexy rasp. He immediately cracked up. "I've always wanted to say that."

"You laugh a lot, so I'm gonna call you, Chuckles." She had given him the nickname at the Cheesecake Factory because every time she passed by his booth, he was joking around and laughing with his family. "You know the rules, right? You can look, but you can't touch."

"Fine by me," Greg whispered, "I don't want to catch any girl cooties."

"Okay, Glitter." Nick winked and tucked a fifty in her g-string. "You rev him up for me and then I'm takin' him home and finish him off."

"Wow, he's already sporting," she announced. "Are you sure you're gay?"

"He's a horny little bastard," Nick chuckled, "girls, boys, even a stiff breeze can make him stand at attention."

"I can see that." While going through the motions, Tawny asked, "Hey, what do you guys want me to wear to the party?" They had asked her to come and pretend that she was really into their co-worker David Hodges. She was to laugh at every joke he made and cuddle up to him at every opportunity. They wanted him to think that she found him irresistible and just when he was certain he would be getting lucky, she was to yell 'gotcha' and clue him in.

"Dress cute and normal, but show some cleavage," Nick instructed. "We don't want you to look like an exotic dancer, because we're gonna say you're a neighbor who works retail at Nordstroms."

"How much did you pay for your boobs?" Greg queried while studying the silicone-enhanced spheres.

"Seven grand," she answered before using them to cut off her pretend-customer's air supply. "I was starving when I had A's. Ramen noodles got old, so I saved up and got the girls done. They were totally worth the investment."

Nick anxiously cleared his throat. "Let's not do too much boob-smotherin', honey. Just stick to grindin' and teasin' him from afar."

"Sorry," she giggled and removed her chest from Greg's face. "I take it you guys aren't into threesomes."

"Nope," Greg proudly declared, "We're one of those rare types of couples in this town - monogamous. Are you really a lesbian?" Considering her actions, it was hard to believe she didn't enjoy men.

"After being used and abused by men since I was fifteen, I'm done with them." Turning around on his lap, she said, "Girls are fun and with the toys available in this town, who needs a man? I can have any size I want, any time I want, either alone or with a girl doing the honors." She giggled, "I'm guessing you're six and half inches. Am I right, Chuckles?"

"6.6," Greg corrected. "Is guessing pole size you're hobby?"

"It's one of the ways I take my mind off things when I'm pretending to care about the loser beneath me. Speaking of which - you need to look a little more orgasmic if we're going to convince the losers around us to open their wallets."

"Sorry!" Greg closed his eyes. "I'll think of the hot guy sitting next to me and how he rocked my world in bed this morning. Mmm…all 8.1 inches of him," he lied, trying not to laugh.

"Wow." Tawny glanced over. "That's a porn-worthy piece, Tex."

"Yeah," Nick lifted his beer to his mouth trying not to laugh. "If I didn't love bein' a CSI, I'd be makin' a fortune as a porn star."

"What would your porn name be? If you don't have one, you're supposed to take the name of your first pet and the name of the street you grew up on. Mine's Fluffy Douglas."

With his eyes still closed, Greg squirmed and said, "Mine's Skippy Lambert. Ha! Even my porn name screams geek. What's yours, Cletus?"

"Buck Rockview."

"Ooh!" Tawny smiled with approval. "That actually sounds studly."

Greg wildly grinned as role play ideas popped up in his head. "We are so playing Buck Rockview, porn star when we get home."

"I knew you were gonna say that." Nick immediately started thinking of things to say.

"You into role play?" the stripper asked, making small talk.

"Not before I met the little pervert here." Nick set his empty beer bottle on the table. "He got me started and after a couple of months, I don't even feel stupid doin' it anymore. It's a lot of fun, and a good way to relax after a shit day on the job. My favorite is the adventures of Jocko and Dex – I'm the star quarterback and he's the geek who has been secretly lusting after me. We meet up in the shower, he comes over to my house to tutor me, the possibilities are endless really."

"It's good that you have an outlet," she remarked imagining the guys in their roles. "Because I bet it's pretty stressful being a CSI."

"Yeah." Nick beamed, "That's why I like havin' Chuckles around. He helps me decompress. Before he was livin' with me, I was wound tighter than a spring and the only thing I did to relax was drink and have one-night stands with girls I didn't like. It's nice havin' someone to come home to, especially him," he laughed, "besides bein' fun, he's a great cook, knows how to load the dishwasher right, and will do just about anything in bed."

"Just about anything, huh?" Tawny giggled as he returned to facing her customer. "What don't you do, Chuckles?" She always found people's bedroom limits interesting.

"Bestiality and S&M for sure," he answered, "My dog is a good friend, not my lover and since I've already been beaten within an inch of my life on the job, I don't like bruises."

"Is spanking off limits?" Tawny queried, "Or can I give you your birthday licks?"

"I don't think of spanking as violence, so I'm cool with it." Greg laughed, "But Cletus already gave me my birthday licks."

"Yep." Taking a fresh beer off the cocktail waitress's tray, Nick said, "I can't believe I'm in a gentlemen's club watching my gay lover get a lap dance and discussing our sex life with a stripper girl." He grinned, "Your mom would be so proud of me, G."

"Maybe we should take a picture for her scrapbook."

"You guys are a riot," Tawny said while throwing back her hair with stripper flair. "And your mom is crazy, Greg, but so sweet at the same time. I think it's great that she's taking in two girls. I'm living proof of what happens to teenagers who have no family and nowhere to go."

Nick counseled, "You could do somethin' else, Tawny. At your age, you have your whole future ahead of you."

"Hopefully I will be," she excitedly replied, "I just applied to work at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch."

Nick didn't mask his disappointment. "Why do you want to do that, sweetheart?"

"To get rich of course! Another girl from here works there only one week a month and makes a fortune. She has a ton of regulars and just paid cash for a new car. I figure if I work for five years, I'll be able to retire and live comfortably for life."

Greg shook his head, "We worked a case at a brothel and trust me, you don't want to be a part of that lifestyle. The money isn't worth it."

Tawny patted his cheek. "Easy for you to say when you have a mommy still spoiling you at 33. How much did this cashmere sweater cost you, Chuckles?"

"Uh," Greg averted his eyes. "I don't know…my mom bought it for me."

"See! You have a Mommy treating you sweetly, so don't complain about me looking for a Sugar Daddy."

"Okay, time's up." Nick waved the $300 and yelled above the loud music, "Was she good, Greggo?"

"Tip her big, pal!" Greg cheered, "Best lap dance I ever had!" As horny men turned their heads, he exclaimed, "If she was that good out here, I can only imagine what she does in the Champagne Room. I saw stars!"

"Hey, Glitter!" A 300 pound 55 year old man with a raging case of psoriasis wiped the sweat from his brow and waved his wallet. "You got room on your dance card for me, little girl?"

"Little girl?" Nick shivered. "Eww."

"Only in the champagne room, handsome!" When the man nodded, Tawny whispered to her newest friends, "See! It totally worked! Thanks for your help."

"Yeah, you're um…welcome." Nick's stomach turned from the thought of the cute young woman grinding all over the sweaty beast. "Stay safe, honey."

"I always do!"

Greg got the heebies watching the girl trot off with her salivating customer. "Ick."

"My thoughts exactly. I don't know how these girls do it. And she wants to work at a brothel and have sex with guys like that." Nick chugged his beer while trying to purge the repulsive visual.

"We can't let her have our kids after having sex with guys like that," Greg joked. "I'll break the news to Jan."

"After meeting Tawny, I'm more thrilled than ever that your mom is taking in Cassie and Jenni. Without a home and a family, they could end up like her."

"Yeah, my mom's a nutjob, but she's really good when it comes to helping needy girls. My friend Becca would be dead by now if my mom hadn't taken her under her wing."

"How's that?" Nick started for the door.

"Becca's parents divorced when she was five and her mother was too busy jet setting to give a shit about her. I met her at prep school when we were 14. One afternoon as I was walking across campus to get to my mom's car, I found Becca slicing lines into her arm with a shard of glass. I told her to stop and she said 'why should I, no one cares if I'm breathing'. I had my suspicions that she was anorexic and depressed, but I had no idea she was into cutting and getting suicidal. I got totally freaked and raced to the car to tell my mom. Super Jan stepped into action. She called Becca's mother in New York, read her the riot act and got her to approve putting Becca in therapy with a doctor who was also a family friend. From that day on, Becca stayed and our house whenever her mom was out of town so she wouldn't have to go home and hang out with maid and the gardener. In six months, Jan got her to gain weight and get straight A's. After graduation, she went to Stanford with me so I could keep an eye on her."

"Where is she now?" Nick pushed open the front door.

"She majored in Art History and got a job at a gallery in San Francisco after graduation. While I was getting my Master's she fell in love with a starving artist, which worked out great since she was rich. They got married a year later and they have two kids, Zach and Bella. Their dad stays home with them and sculpts and Becca is the Assistant Director of the gallery now." Greg spoke in his TV announcer voice, "Those are the kind of results you can expect when enrolled in the Jan Sanders Smothering Program. You can also expect Jan's graduates to be a little quirky since she is."

"Quirky is a hell of a lot better than depressed or dead." Hailing a cab, Nick said, "I'm glad Jenni and Cassie will be goin' through the Jan Sanders Smothering Program. After what they've been through, I want them to be as happy, healthy and successful as possible."

* * *

"We did it! It's midnight!" Cassie announced when her alarm clock sounded. "Only six hours until sunrise!" They vowed to party all night and watch the sun rise together. 

"We should drink another Coke," Jenni advised while lounging in a bean bag chair.

"And we need to eat more candy to keep us hyper. I'll get more from…" A knock on the bedroom door made Cassie freeze in her tracks. "Come in!"

"It's just me, girls." Evelyn opened the door and smiled at the sisters-to-be. "You need to settle down and get some sleep."

"Jenni's fourteen, and I'll be twelve in three weeks," Cassie reminded her guardian. "We can handle staying up late."

"You don't want to be tired at Greg's party tomorrow night, do you?" The plan was for them to stay until cake was served and then Dave would bring them over before the adults were too drunk to be around. "You get to have another sleepover tomorrow, so you don't have to do everything in one night." After blowing a kiss, she started to shut the door. "Night, girls."

"Night, Mama Evelyn!" they sang out together.

When the door shut, Cassie dove for her stash. "She sleeps like a log," she assured while retrieving two cans of Coke and an unopened bag of Red Vines from under her bed.

"Where did you get all the junk food?"

"Nick." Cassie cracked open a can and handed it to her sister. "Soda and candy wasn't allowed in his house when he was a kid, so he and his sister used to buy it with their allowance money and stash it in their rooms. Whenever he sees me, he gives me a six-pack and a bag of snacks. All I have to do in return is promise to brush my teeth extra good twice a day and get plenty of exercise."

After taking a sip, Jenni said, "We have the coolest big brothers. Well, Nick's not technically your brother, but we'll say he is because it's fun to each have one." She waved a Red Vine in the air. "Your brother buys you junk food, and mine buys me teen magazines and funky nail polish. Ooh! That reminds me…" She reached for her backpack. "I've been saving the latest issues for us to look at together. Who do you think is cuter…" She showed the cover of J-14. "Daniel Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom or Cody Linley?"

"I think Mitchel Musso is cuter than all of them."

"Really? I liked him last year, but not this year." Jenni flipped open the magazine. "Ooh! Check out this article. 'How I learned to kiss. Two stars spill their smooching secrets'."

"Read it!" Since hitting puberty two months ago, Cassie couldn't get enough information about boys and romance.

"Cheetah Girl Kiely Williams says she had makeout sessions with pillows to develop her skills."

"No way!" Cassie giggled into her hand. "I thought I was the only one who did that."

"I do it too! When I was in the hospital, I'd kiss my pillow and pretend it was Greg, the prince who rescued me. Then I found out he was gay and now he's my brother." Jenni laughed, "Pretty gross, huh?!"

"I think it's kinda funny actually."

"This article says 'laugh if you want to, but Kiely is a more confident kisser today because she practiced on her pillow."

"I guess we should keep it up then."

"I could have played spin the bottle last summer, but I want my first kiss to be special, not during a stupid game." Lowering the magazine, Jenni shared, "Our new mom and dad kiss **a lot**. Mostly it's just little smooches or pecks on the cheek, like when they're in the kitchen making dinner together, but they give each other bigger ones whenever they're leaving or coming home…lots of hugging too. One time I caught them making out on the couch." She whispered, "They were using tongues and running their hands all over each other. Do you think it's normal for old married people to be doing that?"

"Yeah, and it's good news for us," Cassie said with relief. "If parents are kissing and touching each other a lot that means they're in love, and if a mom and dad are in love, then they're not on the fast track to divorce. My mom told me that once." The mention of her parents tugged at her heartstrings and she wished she hadn't brought them up.

"I never saw my father kiss my mother because they hated each other by the time I was one."

"Hey…I don't want to get sad tonight." While it always felt good to purge a little bit of their sadness together in a good cry, she wanted their first all-night sleepover to stay upbeat.

"Yeah." Jenni nodded in agreement. "No tears tonight. Unless we're laughing so hard that we cry. Promise?"

"Promise."

They sealed the deal by clinking their Coke cans.

"Have you ever seen our brothers kiss?" Cassie queried while swiping another piece of licorice. "Because I've never seen two boys kiss ever and wonder what it's like. Do they kiss the same as a girl and a boy?"

"I've seen them kiss. It was a little weird the first time, but now it seems totally normal and cute to me, and yeah, it works exactly the same for two boys." Jenni shared, "They only do little kisses when people are around – like when Greg's at the kitchen counter, Nick likes to wrap his arms around him from behind and peck his cheek. But there was this one time when Nick's mom was visiting." She giggled into her hand, "Mrs. Stokes asked them not to kiss in front of her because it makes her uncomfortable to see people of the same sex together. I guess going without kissing all day was too much for our brothers because when I went to the bathroom I looked out the window and saw them making out in the backyard. They were totally trying to suck out each other's tonsils! Nick even grabbed Greg's butt and squeezed it through his jeans."

Cassie laughed into her hands.

"Yeah, I laughed too. Mom was waiting outside the door in case I had trouble without my walker and she heard me cracking up. I didn't tell her why though. I thought they might get in trouble for doing that while I was at the house." She proudly said, "A sister has to cover for her brothers."

"Thanks for clearing that up." Cassie said, "At my school last month, all the girls going into 6th grade were shown a movie about periods, dating, and how babies are made. It didn't say anything about how two boys do it."

"Two boys can't make a baby."

Cassie threw a Red Vine at the brainiac. "I know that! I mean they didn't say that boys kiss and…well, I guess there's nothing else for them to do since they can't have sex."

Sensing her younger sibling was missing some critical information, Jenni whispered, "Do you know about the bases?"

"Duh! I play softball, remember? It's has bases just like baseball."

"Not the **sports** bases, the **fooling around** bases." Excited to impart secret knowledge, the bigger sister said, "There are four - first base is making out, second base is touching each other's private parts with your hands..."

"You mean like a boy puts his hand down…there."

"Uh huh. And the girl pets his thing with her hand."

While cringing, Cassie said, "Like you pet a puppy?"

"Kind of I guess, and if you pet it long enough, it shoots out sperm, the white creamy stuff that fertilizes the woman's egg and makes babies."

"Ewwwww!" Horrified by the idea, Cassie asked, "Why would anyone want to do that and get that stuff all over their hand?"

"I know, it sounds gross, doesn't it?" Jenni nodded, "But when we're older and in love with a boy I bet we'll want to do it because it makes boys happy and when you love with someone you want to make them happy, right? That's really the only reason I can think of for doing something so nasty."

Cassie pondered the activity for a moment and then asked, "Can the girl wear gloves?"

"I don't see why not," Jenni replied after consideration. "Why would the boy care? Unless they were like itchy mittens. You mean latex gloves, right?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

Cassie breathed a little easier. "What are the other two bases?" she asked with trepidation.

"Well…third base is touching and kissing each other's parts with your mouths."

"What?!" Completely unnerved by the newest revelation, Cassie snapped, "You're making this stuff up to freak me out!"

"I swear, I'm not!"

"That was definitely** not **in the movie they showed at school and it's not in any of the magazines."

"Of course not! Only grown ups are supposed to do it, that's why they don't tell you at school or put it in the teen magazines." The older sister leaned in close, "Boys and girls at my school were doing it at parties though. Not people I hung out with from Science Club, I mean like the bad girls and boys."

"The ones that wear lots of black?"

"No, the slutty girls who wear a ton of makeup."

"Do you think Mom and Dad do that?" Cassie asked while trying to picture the horror. "And our brothers? Do you think they do that to each other?"

"I think most grownups do."

"But Mom and Dad have been kissing us on the cheek. How can they kiss us on the cheek with their mouths after they've…"

"I'm sure they brush their teeth after they do it!" Jenni cracked up. "That's like worrying about them wiping their dirty butts when they go to the bathroom, and cooking food with the same hands, right?"

"I guess." Cassie clutched her favorite teddy bear. "I kinda wish you hadn't told me any of that."

"You have to know this stuff before you get to Junior High next year." Enjoying her new role as the older and wiser sister, Jenni taunted, "Do you want to know how two boys have sex?"

"They can't have sex, because they both have penises. There has to be a hole."

"There is." Jenni pointed to her butt. "Back there."

"You mean…"

"Yep. Sometimes boys like to do that to girls too."

Cassie's blood curdling shriek woke Mama Evelyn, who dashed across the hall as fast as her aching bones could carry her. "What's wrong? What's the matter?!" She was accustomed to her psychologically damaged foster kids waking up screaming. "Did you have a nightmare, honey?" she asked when she saw Cassie as pale as a ghost. When the girl nodded and started crying, Evelyn opened her arms. "What was it about, sweetie?"

"The future! I don't want to grow up!" Cassie ran into her guardian's arms and burst into tears. "Grown ups are crazy sex freaks!"

* * *

"You knocked up Mandy!" Hodges said as he stood in Henry's Tox lab. They were both working an extra shift , so they could have Monday off to attend a conference at UNLV. "Did you slip some GHB in her drink and have sex with her while she was passed out?" 

"No!" Henry threw a latex glove at his obnoxious co-worker. "What kind of animal do you think I am?"

"Honestly, I'm still trying to wrap my arms around you not being gay." Hodges lowered his voice, "Or did you purposely get her pregnant so people would believe you were straight."

"I'm not a ballet dancer, I'm a Toxicologist." Henry lamented, "We both had too much to drink and fell into bed."

"Ah." Staring at his geeky co-worker, Hodges said, "Just another alcohol booty call."

* * *

"Hi," Greg nervously greeted his partner who was approaching their backyard Jacuzzi with two longnecks. "What's your name?" Sitting in the bubbling water, he waited for the answer that would make him grin. 

"Buck Rockview," Nick replied in his best macho porn star voice. "You?"

"Skippy Lambert," Greg answered while pushing up his black-framed glasses that were part of his nerd Halloween costume last year. "I'm at the hotel for a pocket protector convention. What about you?"

_Pocket protector convention. Ha! _Trying not to laugh, Nick said, "I'm a bartender in the lounge here. I just finished my shift." He held out a bottle. "You drink beer, Skippy?"

"The Jacuzzi rules clearly state that glass bottles are not allowed, so it would be wrong to drink those in here."

"I'm not really a rules kinda guy." Pulling the remote control out of his pocket, Nick aimed it at the boombox on the Jacuzzi deck.

When porno music suddenly filled the air, Greg hid his outrageous grin behind the beer bottle._ The student is becoming the master._ Watching Nick remove his clothes, Greg played the part of the frazzled pocket protector salesman to a tee. "Um…where are your swim trunks, Buck? The rules clearly state that appropriate swimming attire must be worn at all times."

"I don't own any swimming attire." Nick took a seat next to his playmate. "Do you have trunks on, Skippy?"

"Of course I…oh!" Greg feigned surprise when a hand landed squarely on his swimsuit.

"Yep, you do."

When their eyes met, both men broke into laughter.

Too tired to keep up the charade, Nick said, "What do you say we save this one for another time?"

"Did you drink too much to get it up?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"C'mere." Grinning, Nick directed his partner to sit between his thighs and recline back against his chest. "Let's do some stargazing instead."

"I was hoping you'd say that." When they were on the deck of The Freyja one night, Greg learned his partner was a constellation expert. "In honor of my birthday, find Taurus for me."

"Sorry, honey." Nick shook his head. "We need a winter sky for that one." He brushed a kissed over Greg's cheek. "I'll give you a rain check."

"Okay."

After a minute of quiet contemplation, Nick softly asked, "Did you have fun tonight, G?"

"My sides still hurt from laughing." Nestled in the arms of the man he loved, the 33 year old stared at the sky and counted his blessings. "It's after midnight and officially my birthday."

"Yep." Nick set down his beer and tightened his grip around Greg's waist. "Happy Birthday." He caressed his lips with a kiss as soft as the moonlight streaming down on them.

"I can't think of a better place to be spending it than in your arms."

"Aww, are we gonna get all mushy-like," Nick teased, knowing he was the mushier of the two.

"Maybe."

"I'm kinda in that mood myself." Nick mindlessly ran his fingertips over Greg's arm and watched the sky. "Thanks for defendin' me tonight."

"The thing with my dad?"

"Yeah." Nick dropped a kiss on his significant other's cheek. "It meant a lot to have someone go to bat for me like that."

"I defended you to my mom too."

"What?" Feeling blindsided, Nick tensed, "Jan had a problem with me too? Same problem as your dad?"

"No, I let it slip that we stopped using condoms and she got worried. She told me I was risking my life." Nestling closer, the confident lover said, "I told her I wasn't risking anything…that she had nothing to worry about, because you would never cheat on me."

Thrilled with the level of trust in their relationship, Nick said, "This son-in-law thing is a little rougher than I thought. They're like bulldogs when it comes to their little boy and I seriously think they'd kill me if I ever hurt you. It's easier for you because my father doesn't give a shit if live or die anymore. He's not gonna threaten you, that's for damn sure. He'd probably be thrilled if I contracted AIDS from havin' sex with you and died. It would prove him right." His voice weakened, "And if there's one thing Judge Stokes like to be above all else, it's to be right."

"Hey…" Turning a little, Greg met his partner's eyes. As he suspected, they were glassy.

"I friggin' drank way too much tonight." Nick fought to keep his tears in check.

"You don't have to worry about cryin' in front of me, tough guy."

"It's not 'cause I'm gay that I cry, it's growin' up with five overly emotional sisters. They did this to me….them and the beer and tequila."

Watching his partner struggle, Greg reached out and caressed his cheek

"Tonight was a lot of fun with your parents…with your dad, and to see him love you like that…love you enough to stick his nose in our sex life and demand I respect you…" As soon as the first tear rolled a dozen followed. "I've never had my dad in my corner like that. I've had to defend myself to him my whole life, it's never been the other way around…but then I hear Tawny's story and I should be glad he kept a roof over my head and didn't beat the shit out of me."

"He just beat the shit out of your mind instead," Greg countered, "those scars last a hell of a lot longer than a right hook to the nose."

"I'm fuckin' 35 years old, G…I'm still cryin' about my daddy not lovin' me?" He tried to shake it off. "It's pathetic."

"How?" Greg reasoned, "How is it pathetic that you still feel bad when he's still actively trying to hurt you? SuperNick, you may leap over tall buildings in a single bound every night at work, but you're still human."

Feeling loved and supported, Nick released what he had been keeping locked inside, "It was my nephew's birthday last weekend and my mom had a party at the ranch. My cousin Margie asked about me and my mother did a song and dance to cover up why I didn't come for my usual Spring visit or to visit Skye when she was in the hospital or even now that she's home for the summer. Afterwards, Gwen heard Chuck mutter to my dad that if I had just died in the coffin I would have been a family hero instead of a disgrace as the family fag. He said 'to think we were three minutes of oxygen deprivation away from never knowin' Nicky was queer and dealin' with this shit'."

For the hundredth time in his life, Greg wanted to fly to Dallas and strangle Chuck Stokes.

"My father nodded and walked away," Nick cried, "your dad is makin' sure I treat your ass nice and my father is wishin' my ass was dead. It's hard…it's really hard to see your father so excited about our house and the ceremony and my dad…he's barely talkin' to my mother and I don't…I don't know, G…what if he divorces her for supportin' me? We're supposed to be celebratin' their 50th anniversary in a few months and I've caused this huge rift and half my siblings hate me twice now – once for bein' gay and once for causin' my parents to fight, and now they're all fightin' with each other over me and over how Chuck and my dad are treatin' my mom and…it sucks and every day it gets a little worse, not better. It's hard. I know we weren't a perfect family…but we were one - we celebrated Christmas together and took family photos together, but now…now we're completely broken apart. Chuck and Linda won't take the anniversary pictures if you and me are gonna be in it, Gwen, Marcia and Nancy won't take it unless we're in it. Eileen's just prayin' on it all and waitin' for a divine sign. None of us know what's gonna happen in the future. It's…I'm scared and I feel bad for the grandkids who are caught up in the mess." His words were replaced by quiet sobs.

"I'd give anything to make this better." Wrapping his arms around his partner, he pulled his head to his chest and let him have a much needed purge of emotion. "But all I can say is the same thing I've been saying…it's less than two months since they found out, which isn't a lot of time. You have to trust your mom and just ride it out. If she's hanging tough, then you need to do the same. I think she's giving your dad and siblings a huge dose of that infamous Stokes Tough Love"

"I hope you're right." Feeling better from the purge, Nick sucked in a soothing done of night air.

"I've been having second thoughts about the church wedding though."

"Are ya dumpin' me when I'm at my lowest?" Nick joked, trying to snap himself out of the funk. "Nice."

Greg returned the joke with one of his own. "If I dumped you, then who would lift all the heavy stuff around the house? I'd have to call Warrick all the time." He nudged him. "And I'd miss you bitching about me not clearing the lint out of the dryer." After laughing together, he wiped his partner's tear-stained face and said, "I'm having second thoughts about the church wedding in Dallas. It's not going to help the family strife to humiliate your father and brother publicly. And you can call me selfish for not wanting my wedding to be a political statement, but I'm only getting one shot at this in my lifetime and I want it to be about us and our love - nothing more, nothing less. The liberal activist crowd that hates your brother and his kind will turn our wedding into a media circus and antagonize the conservative whackjobs. I don't want that kind of bullshit on our special day. If you want to get married **and then** go to Dallas to make a statement, that's fine, but I'm going to insist that we don't exchange vows there."

"Insist, huh?"

"You heard me," Greg smiled, "I may be a bottom in the bedroom, but we both know I can make you do anything I want."

"Very true."

Greg jumped up. "Right now I'm gonna make you get out of the Jacuzzi with me because if my balls boil in here any longer, I'll be sterile and unable to impregnate the stripper."

* * *

"Shake it, Boom Boom Sidle!" Gil raised his champagne glass and enjoyed the view. "Here's to a successful vasectomy and a lifetime of hot sex and not worries." 

Tossing her thong, Sara shook her head, "The things a girl does to get her man to slice open his balls."

"Now there's a line I've never heard." Gil stared at the woman awkwardly gyrating above him. "Sara Sidle, you are one of a kind."

"Yeah, but what kind am I?" she laughed.

"You're my kind of gal…brilliant, sexy, witty…mine."

"Technically, I'm not yours."

Gil gently tackled his lover to the sheets. "You're right." Enjoying her smile, he said, "Marry me."

"How much champagne did you drink?" she asked, stunned by the question.

With a sparkle in his eyes, Gil kissed Sara's hand, "The question is…have you drank enough champagne to say yes?"

* * *

**ANs: **

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on the chapter!

Will Sara and Gil be single or married when they attend Greg's birthday party? Find out in the next chapter!

For Nick and Greg fans, I hope the boys tugged on a heart string or two.

I had some requests for a Jenni and Cassie scene, so I worked it in here. This scene will also set up the girls to look at the grownups at the party through different eyes LOL and hopeful that will result in a good joke or two!

Now you know the plan for Hodges and Tawny tomorrow. The lab rat will think he struck gold! (Tawny fans know she's the Golden Bird at Tweeters LOL). She's not only in the story because people missed her, she'll tie into a future plot as well : )

The next chapter is definitely the party.

**Thanks to my hubby for editing and to KJT for cleaning it up after! LOL And to Veronica 10 for her pre-read commentary!**

**Thanks to everyone who left feedback for the last chapter, I'm replying right now : ) **

**Maggs **


	16. Chapter 16: Surprise!

**The Day Before You  
****Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 16: Surprise! **

"Happy Birthday, Gregory Hojem Sanders!" Jan assaulted her son with a bone-crushing hug upon stepping into the entryway of his house. "33 years, fourteen hours and seventeen minutes ago, I was cursing like a sailor and pushing you out of my body." She tightened her grip. "I couldn't wait for you to arrive so I could start smothering you."

"And you haven't stopped." Gulping for air, the birthday boy waved to Jenni and Cassie who were laughing their heads off. "Can't…breathe."

"Stop it, you little ingrate." Jan huffed as she clung to her pride and joy, "I'm just trying to tell you I love you for crying out loud."

"I love you too, Mom," Greg wheezed once his mother backed away. "Thanks for lugging me around for 9 months and for smothering me with love for 33 years, fourteen hours and eighteen minutes. But since I'm getting married soon, do you think we can finally cut the umbilical cord?"

"Not until your wedding day." She pinched his cheeks. "I'll walk you down the aisle and snip it right before you tie the knot with Nicky. Then I won't have to worry about you being alone out in the big, bad world."

"I've waited this long, so I suppose another six weeks won't kill me." Laughing at his mother's irritation, Greg waved his family inside. "Girls, you wanted to go for a swim, right? The pool is yours until the caterer gets here in about 45 minutes."

"Where's Nick?" Cassie excitedly asked while peering out the window into the yard. "I want to show him the A+ I got on my 'Who is Your Hero' essay. My teacher was told to select the best two for the state-wide contest and she submitted mine and Trinh Phan's. If mine gets picked for the finals, I'll get to read it in front of a panel of judges. The winner gets a savings bond, a gold medal, and a plaque to present to their hero."

"It's an excellent essay," Jan remarked with pride in her voice. "Twenty bucks says Nicky will cry when she reads it to him."

Greg laughed, "Talk about a sucker bet. You'll have to find someone who doesn't know the sentimental cowboy to take your action."

"Too bad the contest was only for 5th and 6th graders," Jenni said as she hobbled along without her walker. "I definitely would have written about you."

"It's the thought that counts, Sis. Hey, you're really walking much better since I saw you a few weeks ago."

"I'm working extra hard all summer, so I'm better before school starts up again."

"Where's Nick?" Cassie inquired for a second time. "I really want to…"

"Sorry, sweetie, he's not here right now." Greg explained, "I needed him out of the house so I could stage a little surprise. I had Warrick call with a diversion." He glanced at his watch. "The surprise party guests I invited should be here shortly."

"But it's your birthday," Jenni replied. "Why are you surprising Nick?"

"Because he's been missing his family," Jan answered, hoping to end the confusion. "Greg wanted Nick to feel his family's love and support, so he bought plane tickets for Jillian, Nick's sisters Gwen and Nancy, and his niece Skye to fly out and attend the party."

Greg added, "If Marcia wasn't too pregnant to travel, she would have flown out too. As of this morning, there's one more surprise guest, Mom. Nick's 20 year old cousin Roy." He explained to the girls, "Nick's aunt threw Roy out of the house because he was gay. He was allowed to pack one suitcase and then they gave him a one way plane ticket to San Francisco."

"Wow." Jenni slipped her arm around Jan's waist. "That's really sad."

"Yeah. He hasn't seen anyone from the family since. He didn't think anyone wanted to see him." Greg explained, "But Gwen tracked him down and told him about Nick coming out. He was stunned. Then, when she said he was welcome to come here for the party, he broke down in tears, so I'm really glad I asked him to join us. He sounds like a nice guy. Even though he was kicked to the curb, he's been working as a waiter and saving up for college. According to Nick, he was a straight-A student who was accepted into Rice and planned on majoring in Chem just like his uncle." He smiled, "And a certain other cool guy I know."

"Warrick?" Jan deadpanned.

"No, Mother." Greg rolled his eyes. "Me."

The girls cracked up.

"Yeah, yeah, she's hilarious isn't she?" Greg warned his sisters, "Just wait until she starts ripping on you. Then you'll change your tune."

* * *

"Greg loves the Y – M – C – A…because he's reeeeally, reeeally ga-ay." Snickering, Hodges took a seat at his kitchen counter and reviewed the custom lyrics he had written. His plan was to serenade his friend at the party…in front of as many people as possible_. This is gonna be great. I'm so glad Showtune Boy told me there would be karaoke._ Henry had been practicing Surrey with a Fringe on Top all night at the lab. 

Since the moment he had discovered the truth about his gay coworkers, Hodges had been torturing them. "Hmm…maybe I should hire four dudes to come to the party in costume and sing it instead of doing it myself." Most days he couldn't decide what he enjoyed more – teasing them in front of their friends who knew they were gay or taunting them around people who weren't in the know, so he could watch them sweat about potentially being outed. Under normal circumstances he might be charged with employee harassment, but since he had been the butt of jokes in the lab for years, he knew Nick and Greg considered it payback and consequently they took every barb, joke and quip without tattling. _Those stripper dudes are always huge. If I pay them to sing and take their shirts off for all the hard-up women and gay Ballistics Bobby, then I won't feel guilty calling it charity work and I'll be able to deduct the expense on my taxes. _

_I'll make some calls after I finish fine-tuning the lyrics. _"No man does it all by himself, so Sanders put his pride on the shelf…and he went there, lookin' for love - he found a cowboy, a real Texas stud." It wasn't perfect, but he figured everyone would be too drunk and laughing their asses off to care. There was also the matter of keeping it PG-13 in mixed company, but he cleverly found a way to get his point across without saying any bad words "It's fun to be gaaaaaayyyy with Ni-ick! Greg loves his reeeally big…tr-uck. Now every day after shi-ift, they race home to…"

"It's pure genius," he told his biggest fan when he saw him reflected in the window of the microwave oven. "Brilliant."

* * *

"Hey, genius." Standing in the doorway of the home office, Sara had watched Gil fastidiously clean his roach tank for a moment before interrupting. "Got any more great ideas today?" 

Lost in thought, Gil startled. "I didn't see you there."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Very." His lips curved into a loving smile. "You?"

"I had the strangest dream." Walking to meet him in the center of the room, Sara matched the intensity of his grin. "I dreamt that we got married."

"What a coincidence." Placing his hands on her shoulders, he leaned in for a kiss. "I had the same dream."

"_Welcome, Gil and Sara," the minister in the black suit and tie greeted. "I'm Reverend Hap." _

_Both anxious, they only acknowledged the man with quick nods and quivering smiles._

"_Before we begin, I always ask my couples to think back to when they first became acquainted with one another, to that special time when all was wonderful and love seemed simple and unshakeable."_

_Grinning uncontrollably, they did as requested, recalling the ridiculous cat and mouse game they had played for far too many years. _

"_Love will not always be as simple as those early days and as you forge ahead in your life together, please draw upon the commitment you make today and use it to meet and overcome any challenges you may face." The minister opened his ceremonial book. "Please join hands." _

_Gazing into each other's eyes they did as requested, and soon the silly décor of the tacky Vegas chapel began to fade away._

_The minister, quite certain the couple in front of him were more than ready to proceed, quickly began, "Gil, do you agree to receive Sara as your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love and respect her, to honor and cherish her, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?"_

_Her stomach in a knot, Sara watched Gil open his mouth. _

"_I…" _

_When no additional words came, it seemed like old times to Sara and she half expected Gil to say 'I don't know what to do about this'. She nudged him with her eyes._

"_Sorry. I do," Gil finally answered. "I definitely do." Once the words were out, he inhaled sharply. Now it was her turn, and he eagerly waited to hear the love of his life say 'I do' too._

_Reverend Hap turned to the bride. "Sara, do you agree to receive Gil as your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love and respect him, to honor and cherish him, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?"_

"_I do," She replied without hesitation. "Absolutely," she added for good measure. "I agree to keep him and even his roaches for as long as I live." _

_Happiness flowing between them, Gil and Sara were so lost in the moment they didn't even notice the coordinator present the ring box to the minister. "Gil…please take Sara's ring and hold her left hand." When he got no response, he tapped the groom on the shoulder. "The ring."_

"_Oh." The preoccupied groom apologized and plucked Sara's ring from the box._

"_Please repeat after me, and then slip it on her finger. Sara, I give this ring to you as a token and promise of our constant faith and abiding love."_

_With a trembling hand, Gil held the shiny band. "Sara…I give this ring to you as a token and promise of our constant faith and abiding love." Then he slid it on her ring finger and cradled her hand between his. "I love you." _

_While the couple dreamily gazed at one another, the time-conscious minister kept things moving, "Sara…please take Gil's ring."_

_Excited to present her ring, Sara snatched it from the box. "Um…" Much to her surprise, she was suddenly overcome with emotion. An eclectic mix of joy, fear, excitement and trepidation swamped her. Would they live happily ever after or would the marriage be a disaster just like her mother and father's was? Were they rushing into something or had they spent the last eight years preparing for this moment? _

"_Ms. Sidle," the minister prodded with a smile. "Did you hear what I said? You're supposed to repeat…" _

"_Sorry." When she saw the blood draining from Gil's face, she sweetly laughed, "I didn't mean to panic you. I wasn't having second thoughts, I was just…" She held up the ring and repeated the requisite words. "Gil Grissom…I give this ring to you as a token and promise of our constant faith and abiding love." Unexpected tears slipping down her cheeks, she gently placed the platinum band on his finger. "I love you too." _

_Reaching out with his right hand, Gil wiped away his wife's tears. "Thank you for this." She had understood why marriage was important to him even if he still didn't quite get it himself. Maybe it was to feel more secure. Or maybe it was to fill a void that began when his own father died and traditional family life ended. They were truly a family no, in every sense of the word - a husband, a wife and a dog who loved them unconditionally and gave them a ton of grief just like a child. It was a tiny bit of convention in their unconventional world and he suddenly felt a peace he hadn't experienced in decades. "Thank you," he repeated, his joy growing exponentially. "You've just given me something I didn't even know I wanted."_

"_And I just got something that I swore I didn't need, but now that I have it…" Her smile lit the room. "I'm part of a family…a happy, stable family, so…thank you too." _

_As much as he was enjoying the couple in front of him heal, Revered Hap had a schedule to keep. "Gil and Sara have consented together into wedlock as witnessed here today, so I now pronounce them husband and wife according to the laws of the State of Nevada."_

_Cupping Sara's cheeks, Gil brought his lips to hers and initiated a tender kiss. _

_The minister chuckled, "You may kiss your bride."_

"_If you insist." Gil yanked his wife close for a deeper, longer kiss. _

_Turning to his long-time assistant, Reverend Hap said, "I actually believe this marriage will last. Wanna bet?" _

_After watching the loving couple for a few seconds, the assistant shook her head. "Nope." _

"_Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Grissom." _

_Sara whirled around. "It's Dr. Grissom and Ms. Sidle actually. I'm not doing the name-change thing." _

Grinning, Gil took his wife's hand, leading her out of their home office. "I never imagined we'd be spending our honeymoon at Greg's birthday party."

"I never imagined you'd be cleaning a roach tank on our honeymoon, but only because I never imagined us having a honeymoon…or a wedding. You cleaning a roach tank on our honeymoon is actually quite believable." Chuckling with her husband, Sara checked to see if the shiny white gold band was still on her left hand. "I'm still in shock."

"Me too. Any regrets?"

"None."

Her confident reply delighted him. "We'll have to take off the rings if we want to keep it a secret."

"Yeah," she agreed with sadness in her voice. "I really didn't think I'd like the feel of a wedding band." Sara glanced up smiling. "But I do."

"I do too."

"That's the second time today we said 'I do'." Lips brushing, fingers locking, she whispered, "I can think of something else I'd like to do for the second time today."

"Really?" Sliding his hands over his wife's back, Gil innocently asked, "What?"

* * *

"Sex," Henry lamented as he stared at his reflection. Getting ready for the party he said, "That's all it was to her…meaningless sex. I thought we were making love. I thought she wanted me. I never would have slept with her if I knew she wouldn't want to be my girlfriend the morning after." When his reflection appeared skeptical, he corrected, "Okay, okay…I never would have slept with her without a condom if I knew she could get pregnant and didn't want to be my girlfriend the morning after." It was a fine line, but it was the only thing separating him from his deadbeat father who had slept with his mother without loving her or caring about her. 

"I bet she'll look beautiful tonight." He envisioned her looking adorable in her dark-rimmed glasses while her oh-so-kissable glossed lips glimmered in the moonlight. "Gorgeous." Closing his eyes, he brought his fingertips to his mouth. Even though six weeks had passed, he could still feel her lips on his and taste the sweetness of her kiss. He could still hear her giggling as they crashed onto the bed, two lovers in love…or so he thought. "It was the best night of my life," he admitted upon opening his eyes. "But it was the worst night of hers. I'm her biggest regret."

* * *

"Sleeping with Henry was the best thing that ever happened to me," Mandy tearfully informed her reflection as she got ready for the party. With a palm over her womb, she envisioned him looking adorable as he sweetly laughed with his coworkers. "I hope our baby has his laugh." 

Intently listening to the Rent CD she had grown to love in only a matter of hours, tears pooled in Mandy's eyes. Desperate to develop a love of show tunes, she had ordered the Top 10 Broadway best sellers from Amazon and was working her way down the list. "Without You gets me every time. Without you is what I am." She stared at her empty left hand. "Pregnant without a boyfriend, fiancé or husband."

* * *

"I love the rings you chose," Gwen released Greg's hand and glanced up smiling. "The Celtic knot reminds me of my grandpa's ring." 

"That's exactly why Nick wanted these." While his mother was in the kitchen pouring iced tea for the guests, Greg peered out of the living room window hoping to see Nick. "He should be here any minute."

Sitting on the couch between her troubled granddaughter, Skye, and her estranged nephew, Jillian said, "Are you sure Nicky doesn't suspect we're comin'?"

"I'm positive he doesn't suspect a thing." Greg couldn't wait to see the look on his partner's face when he found five members of his family sitting in the living room. "He's gonna lose it."

"Thanks again for invitin' me," Roy said for the tenth time in fifteen minutes. "And thanks for takin' a risk, Aunt Jillian. My mom will be pissed when she finds out you were hangin' out with me."

"She'll have to get in line, sugar," Jillian assured the boy who had lost 20 pounds and his self-esteem since she had last seen him. "These days I'm thinkin' for myself and not carin' about what other folks think I should do. I do what I feel is right and will let the Lord judge me when I knock on His door one day."

"He's here!" Greg shrilled, "Shh!" When the five family members were lined up on the edge of the brown leather sofa, he hurried to the front door. "Stay quiet!" Once they were quiet, he twisted the knob and waved to his partner who was walking up the path. "Hey, Cletus. How'd it go helping 'Rick with his new TV?"

"It went fine, but I still don't know why he insisted on doin' it today when…"

"SURPRISE!" everyone cheered, causing Nick to startle.

"I hope you don't mind," Greg said as he tossed his arm around Nick's shoulders, "but I invited a few extra guests to the party." Greg sweetly asked the phrase usually spoken by his partner, "Who loves ya, baby?"

"You do, G." The gesture, like Greg's love, was perfect. "You do," his voice crackled with building emotion. "Thank you." For the second time in 24 hours, Nick Stokes glanced down at the ring on his finger and felt like the luckiest guy on the planet.

* * *

**ANs: **

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. : )

Unfortunately, it was cut short because some real life complications have come up and I need to take a little break. An extended family member is having some rather serious surgery on Friday and my husband and I will be occupied with that as well as taking care of our kids for at least the next 2-3 weeks. Thank you for your ongoing support of the story and for understanding about this delay. When I have an anticipated date for my next chapter, I will post in my guestbook on my website and send a note to my Yahoo mailing list. If you only read through the fanfiction website, I will post an update at the top of my profile, but you may want to subscribe to the Story Alert.

I thought the surprises of GSR marriage and Nick's family was a good stopping place. The next chapter will open with happiness over the surprise guests and then the party will begin! If I had a choice, I would have written through the party, but there just wasn't enough time to get it done this week and my thoughts kept drifting to the worries at hand instead of the story.

Thanks to KJT for the quick edit! And to Veronica 10 and my hubby for pre-reading. Thanks for the Recs on YTDAW recently! And to everyone who sent comments after the last chapter. I was JUST caught up on replies when our world got rocked.

Here's to a great CSI Season 8 beginning on Thursday!

Oh, and a special thanks to anyone who put in a vote in for the stories on the LJ awards! That's a wonderful compliment and I appreciate you thinking of me and the story!!!

**Maggs **


	17. Chapter 17: Long Time Coming

**AN: FYI the website version has about 500 more words during a love scene. **

**The Day Before You**

**Written By: Ms. Maggs / Edited By: KJT**

**Chapter 17: Long Time Coming**

"Do you have another birthday gift hidden in your closet?" Greg asked in a laugh when Nick shoved him into their bedroom and locked the door.

"No." Nick had made up an excuse about needing to be on a conference call about a case and told their guests they'd be back down as soon as they could.

"You look really happy, Tex. Seriously, you're glowing." Greg clutched his head and joked, "Are you pregnant? Oh my God! Is **that** why you brought me up here? To tell me you're knocked up!"

"I guess that's what we get for doin' it without a condom, huh?" Grinning, Nick said, "Back in high school, the football team had to attend this mandatory health class, and during the sex lecture they warned us that we could still get a girl pregnant if we stuck it in her tush without a rubber, because of spillage." He started laughing, "But they never said it was possible for a guy to get pregnant from stickin' it in another guy's tush, so I blame the conservative Texas education system for my delicate condition."

"I didn't learn about male pregnancy in school either," Greg said in a studious tone. "I had to read about it on my own."

"Cite your source."

"Harry Potter fanfiction. I used to read it online when the DNA Lab was slow. Yeah, Harry got pregnant all the time, once it was even Hedwig's baby."

"Wait, I always thought Hedwig was the owl?" When he saw Greg nod, Nick cringed.

"If you think that's bad, you should read Teletubbies fic. That Tinky Winky is really kinky, that's why he carries a purse – it's full of sex toys, and you don't want to know how Dipsy got his name."

"Stop talking. Please." Nick covered his partner's mouth with his hand. "I don't know how the hell we got on this subject, but let's pretend we just walked through the door and never got to it." He moved his hand and smiled. "Here's what I wanted to say."

A warm pair lips pressed to his mouth prevented Greg from speaking. "Mmm." He thought about saying something after the smooch, but opted to breathe and return for a second, deeper kiss. Even though they had a living room full of family, the house and the rest of the world temporarily faded to black.

"That's why I brought you up here," Nick gazed into his partner's eyes. Feeling amorous and grateful, he spoke from the heart, "I just wanted to privately thank you again for thinkin' of me on what's supposed to be your special day. I'm really touched by what you did…overwhelmed really." Cupping Greg's face, he felt a rush of emotions, "I love you so much. I'm…"

"Wait," Greg deadpanned, "Does this mean you're not pregnant?"

Frustrated that the romantic spell was broken by another stupid joke, Nick huffed, "Forget it. Just kiss me again."

Greg puckered up and fulfilled the request with zeal. "Better?"

"Yeah." His giddy-in-love mood instantly returning, Nick placed a hand over his heart and gushed, "These last 48 hours have been crazy - first the vows, then the rings, and now you bringin' my family here. I'm on cloud nine. I really do feel like I'm glowin' on the inside and it's important for me to say…."

"If you really do feel like you're glowing, maybe I should buy a pregnancy test."

"Dammit!" Nick forcefully shoved his insensitive lover with both hands. "Why is it so fuckin' hard for you to hear me say how much I care about you?!"

"Hey!" Greg ended up plopping onto the bed after the unexpected push left him off balance physically and mentally.

"I'm so tired of you laughin' in my face when I'm bein' serious."

Greg was still miffed from the shove. "I can't believe you just did that!" He rubbed his chest where the hot head's hands had made contact. "That hurt. It still does."

"And you laughin' at me doesn't? I'm serious!" Nick warned, "You better not pull this crap during our ceremony. When you said you wanted us to write our own vows I was thrilled. I've been writin' and re-writin' them in my head, believin' they would be the most important words that I ever said. But if you're writin' jokes instead of vows, forget it, we'll go with the standard text."

"Nick…"

"No, that ceremony is bein' conducted by a real minister and I don't want it to be a stand-up routine."

"Time out!" Greg made a T with his hands and snipped, "I have this thing about getting manhandled and yelled at on my birthday, remember? So, take a deep breath and chill out, hot head. You shoved me!" He rubbed the sore spot. "Hard."

After following orders, Nick anxiously said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the opposing quarterback." Greg flashed his ring. "I'm your partner, remember?"

"I'm really sorry," Nick repeated while staring at the ground.

As much as he wanted to stay angry, Greg couldn't. "Apology accepted."

"I didn't mean to hurt you, and it wasn't out of anger, I swear."

"Really? Then what emotion was it that made you **curse** **me** and **knock me** off my feet?"

Nick dug for the truth. "I shoved ya because I was frustrated and disappointed that you didn't want to hear what I had to say when I was standin' there happier than I have ever been in my life. I don't get why my happiness is a big joke to you."

Hearing his partner's perception of the moment, the last of Greg's anger and concern disappeared.

"Maybe I'm too sappy and I'm expectin' too much from you." Nick shrugged. "Maybe I'm just a big needy girl in disguise. I was surrounded by five emotional sisters growin' up and all I got to watch on the family TV was sports and chick flicks. When Nancy had to babysit me, instead of talkin' me roller skatin' or to the park, she'd take me to the movie theater and plop me down with a bag of popcorn and a box of SnoCaps while we sat through the same chick flick twice." Recalling the movies, he sighed, "There was always a loved one dyin' or gettin' hurt. I bawled my eyes out at all of them…Ice Castles, Somewhere in Time and Terms of Endearment. I was chubby emotional wreck at the ripe age of 10 thanks to Nancy." Stuffing his hands on his hips, he said, "My point it, I grew with these romantic ideas of what love and marriage were supposed to be, but I never found anyone to love until now. I wanna feel the things I've been waitin' for all these years, but you're makin' me for stupid for feelin' and sayin' 'em…and it sucks."

Visualizing a chunky 10 year old Nicky Stokes wearing corduroy bell bottoms and crying with clutching a box of Sno Caps at a wimpy Robbie Benson movie, Greg fell a little deeper in love. As tough as Nick was on the job, at times like this, it was impossible not to see the vulnerable little boy still lurking beneath the surface - the kid who was still hoping his father would unconditionally love him some day, the damaged victim of a pedophile, and the child who really needed a day off from trying to be perfect.

"Is it me? Am I **really** the only romantic gay man on the planet? The only one who enjoys callin' his partner honey and bringin' home a box of candy? Tell me, because I have no idea what's normal." Nick hung his head and sighed, "Maybe I shoulda borrowed that box set of Queer as Folk your mother offered." He sighed, "Should I keep my thoughts to myself and just screw your brains out? Is that the norm you're expectin'?"

"You're killing me, Cletus." His voice cracking, Greg reached out and pulled him over to sit next to him on the bed. "As much as I love having sex with you, no, it's not the only way I want you to express yourself. And for the record, I like when you call me honey and bring me candy. I loveyour sappy romantic side."

"You have a real funny way of showin' it." Nick glanced over. "Literally."

"I know. I know I do." Greg tenderly explained, "You're the retired ladies man, remember? Not me. I've never been part of a romance until now. I spent my weekends playing chess against a computer and watching porn. I don't know how to do romance and I don't know how to respond to it…at least not without feeling awkward and stupid. You saw my latest attempt…a blow up doll, a bag of candy penises, and a dissertation on my prostate. Hello? I suck at romance. When I get flustered or feel clueless about how to respond to you, I fall back on what I know…using humor to mask my nerves and incompetence. It's what I've been doing that my whole life to get by. It's how I survived high school, and when I arrived at LVPD and couldn't make the ladies swoon or the jocks think I'm cool, I made everybody laugh. I was the funny guy in DNA who wore a lampshade on his head, among other things. You're not the one with the problem."

Remembering a few of Greg's wackier lab moments, Nick's smile returned.

"In high school I was the dorky class clown who made all the girls laugh, but I never got a dance at the prom. You were the jock who had all the right moves at the prom and knew just what to say to get the ladies to swoon and dance with you." Greg nudged his lover. "I'm sorry I made you feel bad when all you were trying to do was love me."

"I can't believe I shoved you like that." Nick covered his mouth as the seriousness of his actions caught up with him. "Is there a mark? I'm turning into my father…a big bully who tosses his weight around and manhandles the people he's supposed to love. It's a cycle and I'm continuin' it. Shit."

"I'm fine. Really." Greg unbuttoned his shirt to prove there wasn't a bruise. "I was being a drama queen, milking the incident for attention. See."

"Oh God." Nick shielded his eyes. "You can see my finger impressions and they're all gonna turn into bruises. I bruised you on your birthday. If you take your shirt off to swim tomorrow, your dad is gonna see I bruised you and lose it. He should too…I'm turnin' into his biggest nightmare."

When tears started popping from Nick's eyes, Greg desperately tried to justify the shove. "I was **beyond** annoying laughing in your face while you were trying to sweep me off my feet. I would have shoved me too!"

"You can't make excuses for your spouse's violent behavior, we tell women that all the time. We hear it all - I burned the dinner, I ruined his shirt, I ran up the Visa bill." Nick shook his head. "There's no rationalizing a bruise. That's what we tell 'em. Don't rationalize what I did."

As the locks on Nick's excessive baggage loudly clicked open all around him, Greg begged, "Please stop. I know you didn't mean it and you won't do it again."

"Holy shit." Nick's panic flared. "You sound just like one of the women we counsel. That's what they always say. I know he won't do it again."

When his guilt-ridden man continued swirling into a shame spiral, Greg knew he'd have to do something drastic to pull him back from the abyss…so he started singing…the theme from Ice Castles…as if he were channeling wimpy Robbie Benson. "And nowwwwwww, I do believe, that even in the storm we'll find some liiiiiiiiiiight. Knnnnnooooowing you'rrrrrrrre besiiiiiiide me, I'm alriiiiiight."

His tears halting, Nick glanced up. "What the hell are you singin'?"

"The theme from your favorite childhood movie, Ice Castles, in the key of wimpy Robbie Benson." Greg jumped to his feet. "I'm bringin' the romance, dork style." He belted out the chorus, "Pleassssse…don't let this feeling end. It might not come again, and I want to rememmmmberrrrr…how it feels to know you!"

"How the hell do you know the words by heart?" Nick asked while he wiped his face.

"My friend Becca made me sing it with her whenever she was depressed from breaking up with a boyfriend….or a girlfriend." Greg dropped on one knee and took Nick's hand. "Looking through, the eye-yi-yi - yizzzzzzz…of lovvvvvvvve." After placing a tender kiss on the back of Nick's hand, he glanced up grinning. "Feeling better?"

"Except for my bleedin' ears, yeah." Nick's smile returned. "Keep your night job, honey." He yanked him up on the bed. "Every note was off key, but the sentiment was pitch-perfect."

"See! That's what I'm talking about!" Greg tossed his hands in the air. "I will **never **come up with a line that smooth if I live to be 100. And you think of them on the fly." He blanketed Nick's body with his. "It's not easy being Don Juan's boyfriend. Now kiss me like you mean it, mi amor."

"Can you button your shirt first?" Nick requested while shifting his eyes to the ceiling. "I don't want to see the marks."

Doing as asked, Greg assured him, "I swear it doesn't hurt. I bruise easily, always have. Now please promise me that we'll put this behind us and leave it there. We have thirty people coming here in a little over an hour."

"I'll try. I just feel like such an overbearing, aggressive beast. I can't shake that feeling."

"I know how to shake it." Greg feverishly worked open Nick's belt and zipper.

"My mom's downstairs, G." Nick laughed like a naughty schoolboy. "I can't give it to you while my mommy's downstairs."

"Not a problem." Greg snickered in between lusty kisses, "Because I'm giving it to you."

"Huh?"

"Bottoming is the quickest way to snap a guy out of an overbearing and aggressive funk." He knew just thinking of the act would be enough to get Nick to snap out the mood and race downstairs.

"Um." Much to his surprise, Nick's body snapped to attention. "But you don't enjoy…do you think you could enjoy it this once?"

"You really want to?" Much to his surprise, Greg's body snapped to attention.

"Yeah, I really do." Nick couldn't believe the words were slipping off his tongue. "Like it's all I'm thinkin' about suddenly."

"Me too." What had started out as a joke, was rapidly consuming Greg's mind. "Okay." Lunging under his bed pillow, he groped for what he needed. "I put this there for after the party," he stated upon finding a bottle. "I didn't think I'd be the one doing the honors though."

They further steamed their bodies and minds with a series of increasingly urgent kisses.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Greg raced his mouth over his lover's chest.

While wishing he had more than two beers before coming upstairs to 'make a phone call about a case', Nick passively let his partner entice his body in a variety of ways, and much to his surprise, ended up enjoying the warm-up to a heated extreme. "I almost lost it," he confessed when Greg returned to look him eye to eye. "God, that was good…especially…" He tossed his head back. "I can't…"

Suddenly feeling bad for foisting the idea on his non-submissive lover, Greg whispered, "It's okay, you don't have to go through with it."

"No, I was gonna say I can't even think, 'cause I'm so heated."

Fingers threaded in each other's hair, they shared a voracious kiss that fueled their already blazing passion.

"How do you…"

"Your call," Nick rasped when they finally stopped kissing each other like they were going off to war. "I just need you."

His partner's unbridle and unexpected enthusiasm had Greg throbbing, and he sprung off the bed like a jackrabbit. "Slide all the way to the edge." He wanted eye contact and an easy, comfortable position for both of them. "Hey…" He stalled, feeling his old insecurities. "Let's pretend the other time didn't happen, okay? You weren't doing it for the right reasons and I wasn't saying no when I wasn't in the mood. I don't want to compare…"

"What other time?" Nicky serenely whispered. "Make love to me, G." As wrong as their first attempt felt, this one felt right. "I want…"

"Wait." Greg stood up for a second and tugged his shirt off in spite of the earlier request to keep it buttoned. "It's make up sex. Say you're sorry and it all goes away with the lovin'. Agreed?"

Nick remorsefully touched the marks his fingertips had left. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven." Seeing Nick's eyes aligned with the bruise, Greg whispered, "It'll be okay."

Nick tried not to tense

"It's normal." Greg timed the words to match his movement. "A little pain now and then is part of the package deal."

Gripping the wide shoulders above him, Nick reminded himself to breathe.

"Love has to hurt sometimes." Greg waited for his partner to open his eyes. "If it didn't, we wouldn't feel the difference when it's fantastic." Against Nick's parted lips, he said, "Trust me...a dash of pain before ecstasy makes it much, much better." He dispensed the sweetest kiss to the pair of warm lips beneath him. "I love you."

"Don't stop," Nick breathed out when the pace suddenly slowed. "I was just…"

"Sorry." His gaze locked on Nick's wide brown eyes, Greg said, "I need a minute, because you were right about it feeling intense when you don't use anything." The unsheathed pleasure living up to its reputation and he teetered on the brink of ecstasy for a perilous moment or two. "I'm good now." Simultaneously dominating Nick's mouth, body and mind, Greg felt a surge or excitement like never before. Every fear of inadequacy was gone and he had self-confidence to spare. "I think you like this."

"Yes," Nick squeaked, as the last touches of discomfort were outweighed by pleasure. In case his partner was skeptical based on precedent, he used every inch of his body to urge him on as they feverishly kissed. It was had to believe their roles were usually reversed and as the minutes passed, the kissing got hot, and the words exchanged between gasps of air became hotter.

Then, without warning, Greg abruptly abandoned his partner's body.

"Why…" Nick knew the answer when he was rolling over. For a guy who supposedly hated topping, Greg was acting like he had been doing it twice nightly his whole life. Always in control, both in life and in bed, the role reversal to submissive had him reeling, but not negatively as he had expected. It was like being locked in his seat on a runaway train…there was nothing he could do, except enjoy the wild ride and hope he survived to do it again another time. It was shockingly liberating, and as both of their trains raced toward their finals destinations, he shoved his face in a pillow, to stifle the uncontrollable exclamations pouring from his mouth.

Draped over Nick's sweaty back, Greg clung to him and panted to catch his breath. "You okay?"

Nick's brain was still too jumbled to form a reply.

Running his fingers through his partner's hair, Greg worried that it had been too much. "I got carried away. It felt so good."

"I'm fine." Nick continued sucking in gulps of oxygen. "More than fine…fantastic.."

Once he knew all was well, Greg relaxed and basked in the afterglow.

"I don't know what all went on down there," Nick grinned, "but it all came together in one blinding moment and blew my mind."

"I know exactly what you're talking about. It doesn't always work out like that, but when it does..." Purring, he sprinkled post-coital kisses until they were both breathing normally. "Ready to…"

"Yeah." Even though their bodies were separating, Nick felt closer than ever to the man at his side. "I'm good," he confirmed when his partner kissed him with love and concern in his eyes.

"But you kind of miss me, don't you?"

"Yeah," Nick shyly replied.

"But I'm kind of still there."

"It's weird," Nick confessed. "But kind of a good weird."

Smiling wide, Greg tapped their noses. "Yeah, it gets less weird the more you do it. Assuming you want to..." When he saw Nick smile, he chuckled, "But not every time."

"No, not every time." Nick reached out and stroked his lover's flushed cheek. "What about you? How do you feel?"

Propping up on his elbow, Greg said, "Honestly…I think we both needed it."

"I was just thinkin' the same thing." Brushing a hand over his sweaty forehead, Nick laughed, "I can't begin to explain why I feel 110 percent better about our relationship because of it, but I do." He shook his head. "Unbelievable. I think I just became versatile."

"I think I just became a man."

They burst out laughing.

"I can't believe how long you lasted, G."

"I know!" The surprised lover, chuckled, "It was like I took mental Viagra."

"I took time to commune with my feminine side and I liked it." Nick thought back to his impromptu psychic reading at Cassie's old house. "I bet Sage would say I'm radiating a shitload of feminine energy right now."

"You know it, bitch." After cracking up, Greg asked with a lilt, "Was I good? It felt like I was good. Unless you were faking. It was awesome for me either way, so…"

"Hell, no I wasn't fakin'! You were that good. I don't know what the hell you were doin' the first time, 'cause that sucked six ways from Sunday, but this time…you were on fire." Nick leaned in for a kiss. "You were better than me. Trust me, I wish I was lyin'." After a playful kiss, he said, "I'll go grab us some washcloths and..."

"Hell, no." Greg slid out of bed and deepened his voice, "That's the man's job."

While they were laughing, the guys heard a distinct knock on the door.

"Oh, boysssss," Jan sang through the door. "I know you're **hard** at work on a confidential case in there, but the caterer is asking for his check and I don't know where it is."

"Do you think she heard us?" Nick whispered.

"Yes, she did," Jan answered before snickering. "Good Lord, you didn't honestly think we bought the work story in the first place, did you?"

"We really weren't planning…"

"It doesn't matter," Jan clarified, "When you're newly engaged or married, passion has a way of taking you by surprise when you're alone. We knew what was coming even if you didn't," she snickered. "As soon as you left the room to be alone, I sent Dave out with the girls and your niece to walk the dog, so they wouldn't figure it out. Then your mother made your sisters drive her to Walgreens to buy toothpaste and pantyhose. Thank goodness I had the sense to get rid of the girls, because the air vents in this house really carry noise."

Blood draining from Nick's face, he caught the wash cloth Greg tossed him. "I can't go out there."

"Don't worry," Jan assured her squeamish future son-in-law. "We've all been there, Nicky, don't be embarassed. Emotions, both good and bad, will continue to flair without warning all the way up until the wedding, so don't worry about the shoving incident. I threw a toaster at David the day before our wedding. My mother had to cover up the bruise with makeup, so it wouldn't show up in pictures."

"Your dad knows about the shove," Nick panicked.

"No!" Jan assured him. "Everyone bolted before the yelling started. It was just me inside. Roy was outside partying with the catering staff."

"My dad isn't going to kill you over a shove," Greg moved to the bed and tugged up the corner of the fitted sheet.

"Passion does crazy things to people. When Dave and I first got engaged we couldn't keep our hands off each other." Jan giggled into her palm. "As a matter of fact, on the drive home from the restaurant I glanced down at the beautiful diamond on my ring finger and decided if I got a shiny new gem, he deserved to get his pole polished."

Balling up the sheets, Greg shook his head. "I can't believe you're worried about being embarrassed in front of **her**." He yelled in the direction of the door. "We'll be down in ten minutes, Mom! We're on our engagement honeymoon for cryin' out loud! Can we have a little privacy?"

* * *

"We could go public and tell everyone we're married," Sara suggested on her way to her husband's car. 

"We could announce it on a neon sign over The Strip too…but we won't." Gil shot his wife a look. "Why didn't you say_ happily_ married?"

"I figured it was implied after what we just did in the shower." Grinning, Sara stepped into her husband's Mercedes as he held open her door.

"Why didn't you ever let me do that before we were married?"

"The cow can't give away all the milk now can she?"

Laughing, Grissom shut the door and rounded his car. "Are there any other things you'll do now that we're married?"

"That's for me to know and you to hope." Sara returned to the original topic. "Ecklie already figured us out, so maybe it would be okay."

Sliding behind the wheel, Gil replied, "Ecklie knowing without the world knowing isn't the same as him knowing when everyone knows. As the Assistant Director of the Lab, he'll be obligated to take action if our relationship is public You know what the Sheriff will say…if a defense attorney finds out we're together and needs a way to get their client off the hook, he might bring up our relationship. Think of the time you were on the stand and that bitch grilled you over wiping chalk off my face."

Sara smirked.

Gil shook his head at his spouse. "There really wasn't any chalk, was there?"

"There was a_ negligible_ amount of chalk."

"So, you really were just copping a feel."

"Yeah, just like you were really checking out my ass all those times you asked me to bend over and pick up evidence."

"Guilty as charged."

"Perv."

"Not at all." Gil smiled, "Just a dysfunctional geek in love."

* * *

Intoxicated by the sentiments they were sharing and his cowboy's radiant smile, Greg said, "Good thing we decided to be open about the rings and our relationship, because I don't think I could hide my feelings if my life depended on it." 

"I feel bad for our miserable friends." Nick stole another kiss before finishing his thought. "They're gonna have to put up with us be nauseatingly happy tonight."

Grinning wildly, Greg smoothed his hands over his lover's body, "And you know we won't be able to keep our hands off each other after five or six drinks."

"Good thing the girls are leavin' after cake."

"And as soon as the last guest leaves…" Greg merged their mouths in a kiss that foreshadowed the late night passion they'd share.

"Damn." Nick backed away wiping his mouth. "Look what you did to me. Seriously, you have me crazy tonight." Breathing deep, he adjusted himself. "I can't go talk to my mommy with a raging boner."

"Just think of Ecklie eatching Cheetos naked while scratching his pimply ass."

"Eww." Nick cringed. "That's nasty."

"Not as nasty as picturing him dropping one of the Cheetos and flashing his crusty crack when he bends over to pick it up."

His stomach instantly churning from the horrific visual, Nick shivered. "You really are a real freak, Sanders."

"Yeah," Greg laughed, "and you're marrying me, so what does that say about you?" He pointed to Nick's lack of arousal. "Admit it…naked Cheeto eating Ecklie is the ultimate anti-boner thought, and much less violent than going the traditional 'dead puppies' route. It's a PETA-approved anti-boner thought."

Stepping into the hall, Nick spoke like a TV announcer, "No animals were killed or injured during the deflation of my boner."

* * *

"These chicken wings are yummy!" Jan informed the caterer. "What do you have for vegetarian selections? I know for a fact that Greg's friend Sara doesn't eat meat."

* * *

"I can't believe I just did that." Sara grabbed her bottle of water from the cup holder. "While you were driving! This newlywed thing is hitting me harder than I thought." 

"You have to do my fly for me, honey," Gil announced, still panting. "I don't want to take my hands off the wheel and end up explaining this at an accident scene."

"Wouldn't Ecklie have a field day?"

"Please don't ever talk about Ecklie while touching my penis." Gil shivered.

"I feel bad for the miserable people coming to the party." Sara retrieved her lip stick from her purse. "We're gonna be nauseating."

* * *

Perched over the toilet waiting to see if she was done vomiting, Mandy dreaded the food and smells of a Mexican food party. But since the party was her best chance to make Henry see she didn't hate him or think he's unworthy of being her baby's daddy, she had no choice but to pull herself up off the bathroom floor and get dressed. 

"I don't even like dealing with morning sickness alone," she whimpered while padding out of the bathroom. "I can't imagine going through the last trimester, childbirth and the first months alone."

Standing in front of the mirror feeling alone in the world, she considered calling her mother and confessing the scandalous baby news.

* * *

"What do you think, Mama?" Standing poolside, Nick inspected the party planner's work. 

"I think they did a lovely job, honey." There was a Mexican food buffet and bar in the corner of the yard and fiesta-inspired tables and decorations set up around the perimeter of the pool. "The piñatas remind me of your birthday parties." It was always his favorite part.

"You used to take me to that store downtown that made all the different kinds and you'd let me pick. My all time favorite was Godzilla. After pickin' the piñata, we'd go to the café next door for ice cream. I'd set the piñata next to me in the booth. Do you remember that?"

"Yes, and I'm glad you do." Jillian smiled at her youngest child. "As a mother of seven it wasn't easy makin' y'all feel special, but I hoped you would remember the little things and the quiet moments we managed to share." Smoothing her palm over her son's back she sweetly said, "Today you're spoilin' Greg with a big backyard party, but in no time it'll be your son or daughter you're indulgin'."

"With Jan poundin' the pavement lookin; for surrogate mothers, I have no doubt it'll happen." He chuckled, "One of the prospects is comin' to the party tonight to help us play a practical joke on a coworker."

"Are you jokin'?"

"Yeah, we were drinkin' a lot last night celebratin' Greg's birthday and Jan propositioned our waitress who also works part-time strippin'."

"You want a stripper to be the mother or your child, Nicholas?"

"No, jokin' around about it just got us to thinkin' about the whole thing is all." Walking back to the house, he said, "On the cab ride home Greg came up with a plan that I liked though. He suggested that we combine our soldiers, that way we don't know who the daddy is the first time and we can both enjoy feeling like it's our biological child in the womb. Then, after the baby is born, we'll test its DNA and whoever isn't the daddy gets to be the sole contributor the next time."

"You're really serious about usin' the surrogate, instead of adoption?

Nodding, he smiled, "Yeah, we both want to try to have one of our own. If it doesn't work, then we'll go the other route. Not any time soon though…Greg and I still have things to work out as a couple and then again when we become spouses. It's important to both of us that a child doesn't arrive until we can provide a stable, loving home."

"Don't you worry about not havin' a mother for the babies?"

"Are you kiddin'?" He chuckled, "With Jan, Cassie, and Jenni livin' five minutes away, there'll be plenty of female influence, believe me. They'll be fightin' over the baby."

"I'm sure you're right." Jillian bit her tongue and kept the rest of her concerns to herself.

* * *

"I don't want to walk in there alone," Henry informed Hodges as he paced his living room talking on the phone. "How about I have my taxi swing by and pick you up too?" 

"Are you kidding? People will thinking we're a couple."

"Just because we share a taxi?" Henry rolled his eyes. "Paranoid much?"

"On a Saturday night…to a party…with a Mama's boy like you? Yes!" Hodges huffed, "Sorry. No way."

"I'll pay."

"I'll meet you at the curb. Don't come to the door! If you come to the door, people will think we're a couple of geeks in love."

* * *

"It's Grissom and Sara, everyone!" Jan cheerily announced when she escorted them onto the patio a two dozen guests. "They're my 2nd favorite geeky couple!" 

"Uh." Gil froze like a deer in headlights as his employees gaped at him. "We're not a couple."

On her third glass of wine, Jan giggled, "Then how do you explain sharing a room at the forensics convention in Long Beach? And why did your headboard bang against my son's wall nightly? The kiss you gave her at dinner was pretty telling too."

"Yeah." Sara grinned at her husband. "Care to explain that evidence, CSI man?"

"Um…" Gil cleared his throat, stood tall, and said, "What I meant was…we're not a couple, we're spouses."

Everyone reached for their wallets to collect or pay on their 7 year old Grissom and Sara marital bets.

"It's Vegas." Brass pocketed a c-note from Warrick and raised his Scotch with a smile. "A toast! To Mr. Bugfreak and his lovely wife who puts up with him for a reason that's yet to be determined! We always knew the two of you would hook up one day." He laughed, "But most of us didn't think you'd be crazy enough to marry him, Sara! To Gil and his much better half! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" the group echoed!

Blushing to a deep red, Gil and Sara felt every eye on them.

"I think we can wear the rings now," Sara stated, once she swallowed the lump I her throat.

"Yeah." Gil watched Catherine shaking her head and mouthing 'marriage, what were you thinkin?'.

"We're here! But not together!" Hodges announced as he stepped onto the patio with his lab co-worker at his side. "Henry and I just shared a cab because we're into carpooling and saving the environment." Swiping a mini-burrito off a passing tray, he asked, "Did we miss anything? Of course we didn't, the party never starts until Davey Hodges arrives."

Tawny's hysterical laughter shot through the air. "Oh my gosh!" She stopped and stood in front of her target. "You're like totally funny** and** cute! If you're a friend of Greggy's, I bet you're really smart too."

Hodges glanced over his shoulder to see who the gorgeous woman was speaking to.

The pranksters turned around quickly so no one would see them biting back their laughter.

"Dude!" Greg elbowed his mate.

"She's awesome," Nick stated, while watching Hodges trip all over himself. "And this pay back has been a long time comin'."

"I'd totally marry Tawny if I wasn't marrying you," Greg snickered as he watched the blonde cutie skip off to the bar with Hodges on her arm. "The party has officially started."

* * *

**ANs: **

The rest of the party follows in Chapter 18! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It definitely brought closure to an imbalance in the N/G relationship that's been working on Nick for a long time. Look for the tense control freak to relax more and for the under-confident geek to gain a little self-esteem from the fight and role reversal.

Gil and Sara were outed before Greg and Nick! Who woulda thought?

Hubby edited in lieu of KJT this time, but she'll look it after the fact and catch anything he missed.

I added a new page to my website for the Nick and Greg One Shots that I wrote and if you were ever wondering if there was love between the boys, I did a photo page for a laugh. You'll find links off my home page which is noted under my author profile here.

**Thanks for reading! **

**Maggs **


	18. Chapter 18: You Only Live Once

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 18: You Only Live Once**

Once all the guests had arrived, Nick whistled to get their attention. "Sorry, for interruptin' your conversations, but I just wanted to take a minute to officially welcome everyone and to say thanks for bein' a part of the celebration. I'm thrilled that y'all could make it, but I want to say a special thanks to my mom, Jillian Stokes, my sisters Nancy and Gwen, my niece Skye, and my cousin Roy, who flew into town just for the occasion." After kissing his mother on the cheek, he stepped away and walked over to his partner. "C'mere, G."

"Uh oh." Greg sensed an emotional moment coming. "Uh…is this when the female stripper arrives? Or is she already here in disguise?" He loved Tawny's loud giggle in the crowd.

"I thought a male stripper was more appropriate," Catherine informed her co-worker. "I hope you don't mind."

"I mind," Warrick muttered and shot her a look.

"No one will be disrobin' here tonight," Nick assured the group and most of all, his conservative mother.

Catherine openly hassled her friends, "Even after the guests leave? Poor Greggy, what kind of a birthday celebration is it if you don't end up in your birthday suit after the party?"

"Children present!" Jan reminded the self-centered irresponsible woman who blew up the lab a few years ago and almost killed her son.

"Sorry."

"I just wanna make a toast!" Nick blurted in frustration. "Focus, people!"

"Listen to the control freak." Warrick nodded at his buddy. "Let's hear it."

In a whisper Greg told his mate, "Don't worry, we'll work out your control issues later in the bedroom."

Nick answered his partner with an all-knowing grin and lifted his bottle, "I hope everyone has a drink."

"Are you kidding?" Brass yelled out. "It's an open bar…we all have two." He glanced around. "And we're all going home in taxis, right folks? Because I don't want any late night calls asking to bail your…" he stopped himself from saying asses, "…tushies out of jail."

"There are a few DD's too," Nick, the responsible host, told the crowd, "Super Dave and his Super wife, Doc and the lovely Mrs. Robbins, and Dave Sanders aren't drinkin' tonight and they have offered a lift to anyone goin' in their directions."

Henry wondered why Mandy wasn't on the DD list since she was pregnant with his child. The idea of her poisoning his baby with booze only stoked his anger. _Bitch! I can't believe her! On top of everything else, she's…_

"Me too!" Mandy announced, because she didn't want Henry to think she was killing their baby one drink at a time.

Glancing over at the mother of his child, Henry felt guilty for calling her a bitch. He quickly shifted his gaze to the stars. _Her new hair style looks nice._ In silence, he struggled not to love her.

"Except Hodges," Doc Robbins shouted above the din. "We can't give him a ride home, because he's banned from my car." He scowled in the Trace Tech's direction. "I'll just say it's a long story and leave it at that."

"Aww." Tawny winked at the object of her feigned affection. "Are they picking on you?"

"They always do." Hodges whispered to the beautiful department store perfume spritzer on his arm, "They're jealous of my superior intellect, so they lash out."

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Tawny enthused in her best bubblehead voice. "I better watch my back talking to you. All the single women must be jealous of me."

Hodges gave a regal nod. "Women have shed blood over me before." He neglected to mention it was when a two women were attacking him for being an ass.

Catherine did a cat call to get everyone's attention. "Nicky has the floor, remember?!"

"Thanks, Cath." Grinning wide, Nick placed a hand on Greg's shoulder and said, "Greggo…we came very close to losin' you this year, and I think I speak on behalf of your family and friends here tonight when I say that the world wouldn't be the same without Greg Sanders. I thought it would be nice to have a party and show you how happy we all are that you're a part of our lives and to celebrate you bouncin' back from the year from hell. Personally, I'm also hopin' this party is the kick off to one of the happiest years of your life, because I know it's gonna be the happiest year in my life."

"Here it comes." Watching his partner's eyes well up, Greg's did the same. "I should have known you would make me cry, Barbara Walters."

Archie jumped on a chair and asked, "Did anyone have 'toasting Greg' in the 'Nick's first tear tonight' pool or is the money still up for grabs?"

"Sorry, Arch…I bet it would be the toast." Catherine raised her champagne. "You can give me the pool money later, Jim."

Nancy laughed when she saw her brother's embarrassment. "Awww, it's my fault he's an emotional guy. I forced him to watch chick flicks and soap operas as a child."

"Told ya, G." Nick felt vindicated.

"Is** that** how you became gay?" Warrick teased his buddy. "I guess I should thank my grandma for bein' a hard ass who made me play baseball six days a week to stay out of trouble."

"I'm afraid I encouraged Nicky too," Gwen added, feeling giddy from the margaritas she had consumed. "I made him play Barbies and dress up games with me all the time. The big clue that he was gay shoulda been him cryin' if he didn't get to wear my sparkly red Dorothy shoes, but I rationalized it away somehow."

Greg grinned at his blushing partner. "I love how it's my birthday, but they're roasting you."

As the crowd laughed, Bobby D blurted, "Wait a minute! Since when is Nick gay?!"

"He's always been gay," Greg laughed, the tequila in his veins kicking in nicely. "But he only started acting on it this year. I thought you gave him the memo, Cletus. Sorry, Bobby D!"

The ballistics tech considered outing himself, but promptly chickened out. "So when everyone was talking about you two being together, they weren't joking?"

"No, we were joking," Jacqui explained, "when we thought they were living together in the 'Bert and Ernie, we look** totally** gay, but even though we share a bath tub and a bedroom we're just really good friends' sense, but then we found out they really were sharing bars of soap and with each other's rubber duckies. We kept making the jokes out of habit."

Jenni and Cassie laughed over the Bert and Ernie joke while Jillian tensed from the public silliness over her son's homosexuality.

"We've never seen them get mushy though," Jacqui said to Bobby, "but in the pool, I've got a 'first public kiss during the toast'…no pressure guys, but I'm savin' up for a nip and tuck and every dollar helps spare you from looking at my 40 year old saggage."

"Anything to help a good cause!" Nick set down his Corona. "I'm drunk enough to kiss ya in front of our co-workers. C'mere, darlin'…" Nick pecked his cheek. "We'll make 'em wait for a liplock."

Cheering for her brothers, Jenni shouted, "They just got engaged too! Does anyone have that in the betting pool? Cassie and I get to be bridesmaids at their ceremony."

"Little sis outed us," Greg chuckled as he held up his ringed hand. "He asked and I said yes, because…"

"Grissom was already spoken for!" Jim shouted, much to the crowd's delight.

"Why would I need Griss?" Greg pointed to his father. "I already have a Daddy in my life."

"OH!"

Grissom raised his wine glass. "In the immortal words of …Donald Trump - you're fired, Greggy."

Some members of the crowd started chanting, "Who's your daddy?! Who's your daddy?!"

* * *

Judge William Stokes entered the house he had called home for the last 46 years and hung his car keys on the hook he had been using for decades, yet nothing felt the same. The heated argument that he had with his wife before she left for Vegas that morning had left him rattled and unsure of their future together just three months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary. Never in her life had his devoted wife spat the word 'divorce' and his mind and heart were still having a hard time accepting that she had… 

_Since the moment I said I do, I have been a supportive wife." Jillian stood toe to toe with her hard ass husband and spoke her mind, "I have stood at your side and helped you further your career, even when I thought you were making the wrong decisions or sidin' with the wrong people, but I'm not bitin' my tongue when it comes to Nicky. We're not talkin' about a controversial trial or a candidate runnin' for office, we're talking about __**our son.**__" _

"_Our son the sinner," Bill reminded his wife, "and your support of his sinning is makin' you a little more of a hypocrite every week." _

"_I know he's disappointed you his entire life, but here's a secret I've never shared with you." She steadied herself with a deep breath and stood tall. "He's made me proud his whole life. He pulled straight As all through high school while playin' sports and holdin' a job, he got a full-ride to A&M playin' ball, he finished first in his class at the police academy, he's saved innocent citizens in the line of duty, and mostly importantly…he didn't put a bullet in his head while buried alive…he didn't do it even though he was sufferin', because he knew it would have killed me to know he shot himself. Nicky is as far from a disgrace as child can be to a mother and for that reason, I __**refuse**__ to be ashamed of him. Shame is for mothers of criminals and cheaters, not the mother of a workin' class hero." _

"_So because he's a hero on the job, he's allowed to ignore the Lord's word."_

"_He's livin' the way he was made and the Lord doesn't make mistakes. The Bible, on the other hand, was written by men and is interpretable." _

"_You weren't raised to believe that." _

"_I wasn't raised usin' a microwave either, but times change and people learn…" _

"_Oh please." Bill snarked, "Did you learn that smartass line from one of the mouthy PFLAG liberals you're havin' lunch with daily?" _

"_Are you insinuatin' I'm too stupid to think for myself?!" Her ire flaring, Jillian spat, "No matter how much you and Chuck try, you will__** not**__ get me to exclude Nicky from my life or this house, which I'll take this opportunity to remind you is __**half**__ mine. When Nick and Greg come to visit, you can stay on your side while I welcome them into mine." Grabbing her suitcase, she huffed, "If you think I won't divorce you because I'm too old, too proud, or too set in my ways, you better think again. If you keep bullying and belittling me, mark my words, I will __**run**__, not walk to my lawyer!" Rolling her suitcase out the front door, she yelled, "I know my son is a good, kind-hearted man, not a freak like you and Chuck want me to believe he is!"_

* * *

"You should see some of the freaks that come into the club lookin' for action," Roy said as he walked alongside his cousin. He had asked to tag along when Nick announced he had to take Chico for a quick walk because he was crying and scratching on the doggie door that had been locked for the duration of the party. 

"After workin' in Vegas for nearly a decade, nothin' surprises me anymore." Crossing the street to get to the park, Nick asked, "Are you makin' good money cocktailin'? Enough to pay the rent? From the look of ya, I know you don't have any left over to buy food." Roy was three inches taller than him, but 15 pounds lighter and looked nothing like the vibrant blue-eyed boy he once was. The only part of him that looked healthy was his thick dark blonde hair, which he purposely styled into a trendy mess. "San Francisco is an expensive city to live in when you're young and broke."

"Between us...I said I was cocktailin' for Aunt Jillian's sake. I'm not. I'm dancin' for tips."

"Dancin'?" Nick stopped and checked his cousin's eyes. "Like in your tighty-whities on the bar?"

"Sometimes they have me on the bar," the boy shamefully replied, "but usually I'm on a little platform on the dance floor. I'm not allowed to take off my underwear, so it's not strippin'." His gaze hit the sidewalk. "I'm not proud of what I'm doin', Nick, but I'm payin' my own way and it's not forever. It's just until I can afford school, which seems like never right now, because I can't afford dinner most days, but I'm gonna make it happen. I'm not a quitter."

Stunned by the news, the concerned older cousin, who had always been like an uncle to the boy, said, "I'm sure things work the same in San Francisco as they do here, 'cause club owners are universally sleazy as hell. The strip clubs here make the girls do stuff to get a good shift and then they make 'em do stuff to keep their spot once they get addicted to the money rollin' in." When he him cover his face, Nick softened his voice, "Hey…I'm not judgin' you, I'm just worried, okay? Is dancin' all you've been doin' to make ends meet?"

"No." Roy cried as he leaned against a thick tree trunk.

Suddenly scared to death for his cousin, Nick urgently said, "Tell me you've been careful. Tell me you're not havin' risky sex for cash."

"One night, this older guy who comes into the club all the time – he's like fifty," Roy's lips quivered as he spoke, "he offered me a roll of cash to bareback. He was real nice and I needed the money really bad, but I said no. A week later I found out the guy is HIV positive. I puked when I thought about how I almost had sex with him."

"How much have you been hustlin'? Every night? Three times a night?"

"Just when I can't make the rent and buy food." It felt good to tell someone, especially someone he respected and who was capable of helping him find a way out of the nightmare. "I was lucky, if you could call it that - one of the guys I work with taught the ropes…"

"You could be in jail or dead right now."

"I know, but I was real careful."

Staring at the former star athlete and valedictorian, Nick's stomach churned. It was a story he'd heard too many times from runaways over the years, but he couldn't believe he was hearing it from a family member. "I used to cut the crust off you PB&J and now we're sittin' here talkin' about you havin' sex for cash."

"I can't imagine what you think of me."

"I honestly think a whole lot less of your mom and dad for kickin' you out when the worst thing you ever did was get caught kissin' your boyfriend." Roy's mom had returned home early and found him and his classmate making out in the family pool.

"I had the phone in my hand to call home a dozen times." Roy's eyes welled. "I was gonna say 'you win' and go to that conversion camp they want me in, but every time I ended up slammin' down the phone before the first ring. I decided I'd rather starve than go to that psycho boot camp for queers. Yeah, it's scary not knowin' where your next dollar is gonna come from, but I think that place would be scarier."

While picking up after Chico, Nick replied, "Greg and I checked out the website of the adult treatment facility my father wants me to go to. I got the heebies reading the testimonials and lookin' at the photos. They sound brainwashed."

"You know I'm not a slacker, Nick. I never thought I'd be homeless and hungry. I'm supposed to be in a dorm, not the YMCA. I tried a bunch of different shelters, but it was worse than bein' on the street, that's why I had to hustle." I had money saved from workin' after school for years, but I used it to buy a used car for four thousand dollars. That car was supposed to get me through college and…"

"Why didn't you take the car with you?" Nick asked out of analytical habit. "You coulda sold it. You still could if…"

"No." An edge creeping into his voice, Roy explained, "I tried to take it, but my dad showed me the title was in his name. I forgot he put it in his name to keep insurance costs down. He told me he would call the police and report it stolen if I drove it away. What could I do? I had to leave it."

"What?!" Nick snapped to anger. "One minute they're yellin' at you for not bein' a good Christian and the next minute they're stealin' your car? I friggin' hate hypocrites! I'm gonna get that car back for you or the money it's worth. They thought no one in the family would cross them to help you and they were right, no one has…until now. It's queer cousin Nicky to the rescue. Trust me, your daddy will cooperate, because I'll threaten go public in Dallas with how he's treated you. He's a county judge, he can't afford to the press, especially when it proves he's a bigoted thief."

"You'd do that for me?" Roy's spirits soared. "Really?"

"Damn right I would. I'm gonna have you move in temporarily. I'll get you a job at the lab, it'll be grunt work, but it's money. Then I'll sign you up for classes at UNLV. Once you're at the lab for 6 months, you'll qualify for tuition-assistance benefits. Don't worry, we'll work out all the details tomorrow."

"Thank you!"

"I'm happy to help." Smiling, Nick ruffled the boy's hair like he used to a decade ago. "Cousins and queers need to look out for one another and we're both."

"I so glad you finally came out."

"Finally?"

"Yeah." Roy chuckled, "I knew you were gay, but I didn't say anything when you were living as a straight guy. I figured you didn't want anyone to know, so..."

"You knew before I knew?" Nick prodded as they crossed for home. "What tipped you off?"

"The way you stared at men. I saw you checkin' out the waiters at cousin Kelly's wedding. I distinctly remember you checkin' out Carson Maynard's ass one 4th of July."

Nick tossed his head back laughing. "You're probably right. He's hot."

"Actually, I can speak from experience when I say..." Roy chuckled, "He's not all that." He held up his fingers four inches apart. "Total disappointment."

"I know we're only 15 years apart and you're an adult now, but it still hard to get used to talkin' like this…or maybe it's just makin' me feel old. I can't believe you fooled around with a guy ten years older than you who I'd hit on if I was single."

"I think it's really cool that you exchanged rings with Greg. Most guys I've met just want to get laid. At first it was heaven, but after a while it got depressing."

"Greg is a very special guy and I'm thrilled to have him wearin' my ring." Nick's smile shone in the darkness. "You think you want to settle down one day when you're older?"

"Hell, after everything I've seen and done in the last year, I'd love to find someone normal to come home to every night. This past year aged me like 10 years."

"I'm sure there's a few single gay guys at UNLV," Nick laughed, "Once you start eatin' again, you may get buff enough to date one. What's your type?"

"I'm versatile."

"I didn't mean that."

"Sorry, it's habit from workin' in the club."

Nick cringed thinking about his 'little cousin' having sex with strangers for rent money. "I meant like jock or geek."

Desperate for another laugh, Roy dug deep and dusted off his sense of humor. "I think I'd like to follow in your footsteps and get me a nice geek boyfriend."

"Good choice." Laughing with his favorite cousin, it felt like old times. "Geeks make great boyfriends."

* * *

"Hi, Henry," Mandy nervously greeted her baby's daddy as he stood perusing the Mexican buffet offerings. "Fun party, huh?" 

Staring at a bowl of salsa, Henry muttered, "Seems like people are having a good time."

"They're getting the cake ready."

"I don't have much of an appetite."

"After cake they're going to have karaoke." Desperately trying to connect, she enthused, "I bet they have showtunes."

Henry yelled at the top of his lungs, "Would you drop the showtunes harassment already?!" When he realized everyone had halted their conversations to stare at him, he regretted ever showing up. "I never should have come here." Carefully setting down the margarita he had been using to drown his sorrows, he decided to end the torture. "I'm leaving. Happy Birthday, Greg!" he yelled in the CSI's direction.

"You can't leave, dude!" Greg pointed to the cake the caterer was placing candles in. "It's Carvel! We're gonna cut it as soon as Nick to gets back from walking our dog."

"Maybe Henry turns into a pumpkin at midnight," Jacqui cackled into her mondo marg. "It's only 10:45, but...what was I saying?" She decided she didn't care and took another gulp.

Desperately trying to be witty for the babe on his arm, Hodges yelled over to Greg, "Stokes has been gone a while. Wouldn't it suck if he walked out on you on your birthday? He doesn't smoke, so he couldn't use the 'went out for a pack of cigarettes excuse. The dog thing…"

"Shut up," Jan sneered at the man riling her boy. "You wouldn't like it if that pretty little thing on your arm suddenly turned to you and said that she was being paid to be nice to you and we were all in on the joke, would you?"

"No, ma'am," Hodges answered, genuinely fearing the overprotective mother who had once threatened to kill Catherine for maiming Greg in the lab explosion. "Sorry, I was just trying to be funny."

"If you have to try, you most likely won't be."

"It's okay, Mommy." Greg raised his margarita. "Payback's a bitch and I know he'll get his."

"Don't worry, Davey." Tawny cuddled up to her date once the attention shifted off him. "Mrs. Sanders is probably just pissed that you're smarter than her son. Kind of how other women are envious of my big, beautiful breasts. No one likes me either, I think that's why I'm so attracted to you…you can empathize with my plight." Batting her eyelashes, she cooed, "I'll make you forget everything later when we're alone in a bubbling Jacuzzi at my place."

Salivating at the thought of bubbling with the bombshell, Hodges grabbed her hand and tugged, "Let's go!"

"And miss the cake?!" Tawny giggled. "No way! It's Carvel! The yummy chocolate crunchies are my favorite." She winked, "But if you're a good boy, I'll let you feed it to me."

"Davey good," he assured her with a Cheshire grin.

"I'm back!" Nick yelled from the patio as he hustled back to the pool area. "Sorry, Chico was sniffin' everything and takin' his own sweet time." Momentarily forgetting they had an audience, he stepped behind Greg, put his hands on his hips, and rested his chin on his shoulder. "Ready to light those candles and make a wish?" When he heard multiple 'awws', he glanced up flustered. "Like you've never seen affection before?"

"Not between you and another person," Catherine teased. "When it comes to action, Stokes, you've been all talk. I've never even seen you kiss a woman."

"I've seen him with women," Warrick laughed at the memories. "We went to Cancun for Spring Break every year for the first 3 years we worked together. All I'm gonna say is...for a guy who doesn't like women, he was a damn good faker."

"Tell me about it," Sofia teased. "I honestly thought I had a shot with him at one point." She laughed in the direction of the birthday boy. "To lose out to you, Greg, is a nice blow to the ego."

"How do you think I feel?" Greg drunkenly giggled, "I lost Sara to Grissom in a fugly straw hat!"

Grissom quietly beamed satisfaction from his seat next to his beautiful wife.

Noting all the inner-office lust, Brass made an astute observation, "You guys **really **need to get out more. There are other people to hook up with than your coworkers. Who here hasn't slept with someone they work with?"

"Henry! Don't go!" Mandy's anxious voice blared from the karaoke speakers, "You can't leave yet! I have a special song to sing to you!" A squeal of microphone feedback shot through the night air. "A love song."

Cassie turned to Jenni and Skye, "Drunk grown ups are hilarious. This party is going to keep me away from the bottle for a long, long time. They say and do the stupidest things when they're drinking."

"This goes out to Henry." Mandy sweetly caressed her belly. "The father of my baby."

Gasps were heard around the pool.

Finding the news unfathomable, Archie blurted, "The Henry we work with?"

Brass leaned over to ask Catherine a burning question, "Did we bet on a Mandy/Henry hookup?"

"No, because we were all positive he was gay and she was frigid."

"Right, right." Brass returned to sipping wine and enjoying his co-workers' dysfunction.

Sitting down on a poolside bench, Nick pulled Greg next to him. "I'm glad we're not the only couple with issues."

Already at the backyard gate when Mandy made her plea, Henry remained frozen. _I can't believe she told them I got her pregnant. I thought she was too ashamed. _

When Mandy belted out the first line of 'Without You' from the musical Rent, guests had a hard time deciding whether to cover their ears to block the off-key whiny delivery or to shield their mouths so their friend wouldn't see them cringing.

"The Earth turrrrrrrrns, the sun burrrrrrrrrns, but I diiiiiie…without you."

Hodges heatedly asked, "Is someone videotaping this shame fest?!"

"Duh," Archie, the AV Tech who never left home without a bag of equipment, had one stationary video camera pointed at the train-wreck while he had his hand-held tracking Henry hypnotically walking towards Mandy as though she were the Pied Piper.

"I know bluuuue! Only bluuuue! Lonely bluuuuuue!"

Thinking Mandy sounded worse than their neighbor's screeching cats, Nick whispered in his partner's ear, "She's makin' your Ice Castles song sound Grammy worthy."

"Without you…" Mandy's heart skipped a beat when she saw Henry appear in the audience before her.

Henry responded by singing Roger's lyrics in the famous duet, "Without you…the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe."

"Whoa," Catherine leaned against Warrick. "This is playing out like a movie…an incredibly bad, sappy movie that I'd demand my money back for, but still…it's kinda sweet in a geek woos geek sort of way."

"I rapped for a girl I loved in high school," Warrick shared. "She laughed in my face thinkin' it was a joke."

"Imagine if we weren't shit-faced," Brass told them. "Imagine how bad she'd sound sober."

"The mind churns!" Overwhelmed by his lover's gesture, Henry reached out his hand.

"The mind churns!" Mandy stepped forward, tears streaming from her eyes.

Greg clapped at his friend's efforts, "She sounds better now that she's choking up."

Nick winked, "There's the rest of the proof that you're tone deaf, G." When he saw everyone was focused on the freak show in front of the Karaoke machine, he stole a kiss. "I hate havin' to keep my hands off you."

"I'm having the best time," Greg replied, giddy from the tequila and the fun. "Kiss me again."

Mandy sobbed as she sang, "The heart yearns!"

"The heart yearns!"

Skipping the rest of the song, Mandy yelled into the microphone, "I swear it was more than a drunken lay to me, Henry! And since we've been apart, I've learned that I lovvvvvvvve showtunes!"

Jan graciously stepped forward and switched off the mike for the flustered girl. "Carry on, Dear. He seems primed for a change of heart."

* * *

Standing by the fireplace clutching a glass of whisky, William Stokes stared at the photos covering every inch of the wall in front of him. Every one of them showcased a happy family memory, or so he thought until now. Upon further inspection, the analytical man began to notice his youngest son looking distant in many of them. Sometimes it was noticeable in his body language, but most often it was his eyes. 

After the abduction, he had learned from a co-worker that Nick was molested by a babysitter as a child. A month ago he heard his boy confess to attempting suicide at the age of 12, because he overheard Chuck say it was better to be dead than queer. Those elements considered, he had no reason to doubt the sadness in the photos was real.

Plucking a picture from the wall, the troubled father sat down in his favorite arm chair and set his tumbler of scotch on the pile of mail he had yet to open that day. Considering the fact that Nick had been struggling with homosexuality since puberty, he began to wonder if maybe there was some truth to his sexuality being fueled by an innate desire instead of a choice.

* * *

"C'mon, G," Nick pressured his partner, "think of a wish before the candles melt the ice cream in the cake." 

Since Greg truly felt he had everything, he closed his eyes and wished for something for someone else. "Done!" Leaning over, he blew out the 34 candles, getting them all with one mighty blow. "This time, I'm not gonna blab it, because I want this one to come true."

"If it was a Mandy and Henry reunion…" Nick pointed to the lovebirds sitting by the firepit holding hands and talking a mile a minute, "then it's already come true."

"I knew that was gonna happen, so I didn't wish for it."

Jan hurried over and grabbed the knife the caterer had set next to the cake. "I'll slice it up, just like I used to at your kiddie parties."

Catherine bristled when she saw Mrs. Sanders wielding a blade. "Warrick, watch my back until she puts that knife down. I think she's still holding a grudge over the lab explosion."

While his mother sliced the Carvel cake, Greg turned to Nick and whispered, "I'm feeling kind of guilty about the Hodges prank. I mean, yeah, he's been a jerk with the gay jokes and threatening to out us, but in a way I think he's just trying to fit in somehow, and there is the fact that he figured out the coffin was going to explode if Grissom pulled you out. You'd be dead if it weren't for Hodges, we can't ignore that fact."

"I've kinda been thinkin' the same thing." Nick glanced over and saw his annoying co-worker picking up the karaoke microphone. "Hell, he's so smitten, he's gonna sing a love song to Tawny. We gotta put a stop to the prank, before he confesses his undyin' love or somethin'."

Before the guilt-ridden pranksters could act, Hodges started singing his re-worked version of Y-M-C-A.

"Then again," Greg's irritation returned tenfold.

"I'm with you, honey." Nick winked and picked up a slice of cake. "Wanna practice for our ceremony?" He held up a forkful.

"Nah, I want to wait and do it for the first time on our wedding night."

Standing in front of the horndogs, Jan choked on her laughter. "That'll probably be the only thing you two haven't done by your wedding night."

"Gimme a break, mom." Greg rolled his eyes. "The only new thing you and dad did on your honeymoon was pay for a hotel room for the night instead of by the hour."

"Oh!" Nick ducked in time to avoid the cake Jan mashed in her son's face.

"Smart ass." Jan waved the girls over with a sunny smile, "Cake time, kids! Then it's off to Mama Evelyn's for the night."

"Mmm, I love the chocolate crunchies," Greg remarked as he wiped the melting cake from his face. "I need a new shirt."

Jan purposely flicked a large glob of ice cream on Nick's sweater. "Oops! Me bad! Now both of you need to run upstairs and change." She winked, "Who loves you?"

"You do, mommy," they both chimed.

Leading the way, Nick said, "We'll be right back, Jan."

"Surrrrrrrre you will."

Watching her son hurry towards the house laughing with Greg, Jillian remembered how in love she was with Bill when they got engaged. How they stole every moment they could and risked getting caught and in serious trouble. With tears in her eyes, she remembered their first time. Two months before their wedding, they gave into their deepest desires and made love under a shady tree while their horses grazed in the sunlight. Closing her eyes, she wondered where that cherished man had gone, because the one she still called husband had become completely unrecognizable.

* * *

As Bill Stokes sifted through the pile of mail he had been ignoring all day, he noticed an envelope addressed to him in purple glitter pen. "What's this?" Cassie McBride was the name on the return address and the name seemed familiar, but his exhausted 73 year old mind couldn't place why. As soon as he opened the envelope, he remembered she was the little girl Nick saved from dying. 

_Dear Justice Stokes, _

_My name is Cassie McBride. We met last year at Nick's commendation ceremony. I was the girl who gave him the medal for saving my life. He doesn't know I wrote this letter and I know he'll be really upset when he finds out I did. At least in the beginning, but then I'm pretty sure he'll realize that I was just trying to help and forgive. I think he'll tell me I wasted a stamp, because he doesn't believe you'll ever change your mind about him. He told me you always hated him a little, but now you hate him so much, you wish he had never been born. That was one of the saddest things I ever heard anyone say and I cried in his arms when he told me. I miss my daddy all the time, but I know he was killed and it wasn't his choice to stop loving me. I can't imagine how much it would hurt if he were alive and not loving me by choice. _

_I know you're a really smart guy, because you have to be smart to be a judge on the Supreme Court of Texas. A guy like you probably won't listen to a 12 year old girl whose biggest achievement is a blue ribbon at her elementary school science fair, but I thought I'd try to get you to listen to me, because I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. _

_I have a problem. I have a huge debt to pay off. Nick saved my life and I owe him for that, even though he's told me a million times he was just doing his job. I owe him big, because not only did he save my life, he caught the guy who killed my family, he found me a great foster mom, and for the last 2 years, he came to all of my school events and softball games in place of my daddy. As if that weren't enough, he found the BEST family to adopt me, which means I won't have to live in a group home for the next six years. That's kind of like saving my life all over again, don't you think? _

_Attached to this letter is an essay I wrote called 'Why Nick Stokes Is My Hero'. My teacher entered it in a state contest and I'm praying every night that it gets selected for the finals, because then I'll get to read it in front of a bunch of people, including the Governor, and then everyone would know how great he is – Nick, not the Governor, although I'm sure the Governor is nice too. _

_As great as winning the hero essay contest would be, I don't think it's enough to pay back Nick for saving my life…twice. So, I sat down and decided to go for something that would be enough – getting you back in his life. _

* * *

"Move in with me," Henry excitedly asked while squeezing Mandy's hands between his. 

"But I'm a slob," she confessed.

"I won't care."

"Yes, you will."

"Move in with me," he pleaded a second time. "I want to cook healthy meals for you and the baby. I want to rub your feet when they're tired after a long shift. I want to be a good daddy-to-be. Please let me." He cupped her face and moved closer. "Please."

"But I'm a slob," she reminded him as their lips brushed.

"We'll hire a maid to clean up."

* * *

"I think I made a mess in here." Greg's margarita laugh rattled the walls of the closet. On his knees and gripping Nick's hips for balance, he said, "I was particularly uncoordinated right as your big moment came. Could you tell?" 

"I started catching a clue when my pecker ended up in your eye."

"That poke really hurt." Greg massaged his closed lid. "Still does."

"They don't call it a hard-on for nothin'." Grinning, Nick yanked his lover to his feet. "Maybe you shoulda heeded the alcohol label warning to stay away from big machinery while intoxicated."

"Nah, I wanted to show my gratitude for the party." Glancing down at his watch, Greg teased, "My incompetence didn't interfere with you losin' it in record time. We walked in here three minutes ago."

"It's all that practice I had with women over the years at parties, my brain and my loins are conditioned to know you have to be quick when you're gettin' lovin' on sly." Nick laughed, "You also need to be neat, because you usually don't have a change of clothes and don't want to leave any DNA evidence." Noting the giddy gaze on his partner's face, he slipped further in love. "Kiss me."

In the semi-darkness of the closet, they gripped and groped one another until they were forced to come up for air.

"G…"

"Yes," Greg dreamily replied, waiting for his cowboy's predictable romantic words.

"I think I figured out the spunk trajectory." Belly laughing, Nick pulled his fingers from his partner's sticky hair. "You've got a real nice Somethin' About Mary look goin' on. If the party weren't crawlin' with Techs and CSIs, I'd say go for it, everyone would think you used hair gel when you came up here to change your shirt, but we're talkin' about a patio full of LVPD's most discerning noses and analytical eyes."

"I'll grab a two minute shower, but first…" The hapless romantic drilled his eyes into his lover's and said, "I won't tell you what I wished, but I want you to know my wish was for something special for you." His hope was for family harmony for his partner, including reconciliation with his father. "Thank you for the party and for putting up with me even though I'm an unromantic geek, and insecure relationship-paranoid freak, and a drunken sloppy lover who crashes your pecker into his eye. I've never felt more loved in my life than I do tonight, but in my heart I know a year from now, I'm going to look back and think the amount of love I felt on my 33rd birthday was nothing compared to how much I feel on my 34th."

"Wow." Trading Eskimo kisses as they swayed, Nick murmured, "Look who's bringin' the romance."

"You like my moves?"

"I do."

"Say it just like that in July." Greg whispered into Nick's lips. "Maybe all the guests went home."

"We've only been gone 7 minutes." Nick slid his hand around to the front of Greg's jeans. "Remember that game 'seven minutes in heaven'? We always played it at high school parties…a guy would ask a girl to step in the closet for 7 minutes of hot and heavy pettin' and kissin'."

"I was the tech geek who played the music at parties while all the couples made out. Instead of seven minutes in heaven, all I ever got was several hours in hell."

With a smirk, the new fan of role play said, "I've been wantin' to kiss you since I saw you presentin' your prize-winning science project at the assembly last month." Caressing the heated body in front of him, he asked in the sexiest rasp, "Wanna spend seven minutes in heaven with me, Greg Sanders?" Nipping at his ear lobe, he urged, "Please say yes."

His glorious smile glowing in the dimly lit closet, the geek who never got the hot girl or the jock guy in high school, gratefully replied, "Yessss." Closing his eyes, he rested against the closet door. "I'd settle for two, but seven will make my night." As his partner kissed his way down his chest, Greg weaved his fingers in his dark brown hair and tried to lose himself in the fantasy, but reality seemed even sweeter, so he opened his eyes. "It's even hotter thinking of you giving this to me in our closet on my birthday while our coworkers, people who have made fun of geeky me for years, are eating cake on our patio." He tugged on the clump of hair in his hand. "Nick Stokes is on his knees giving me the best damn BJ of my life. Happy birthday!" Banging his head against the wall, he let the need for release build until he saw stars.

Glancing up at his suddenly silent mate, Nick said, "Penny for your thoughts."

"I'm alive."

Nick laughed until he realized his partner had tears streaming down his cheeks. "G…"

"I almost died. All of this…this last three months…us…this house, our dog, the rings, the cake with the 34 candles…it almost didn't happen." Trembling, he covered his mouth. "I almost died. I really almost died before any of this."

"But ya didn't." Nick patted his damp cheek. "You'll feel even freakier on the anniversary of the day you survived, but I'll be with you and get you through it."

"Holy shit, that feeling came out of nowhere." Clutching his head, Greg pushed out a laugh, "I can't believe we're standing in our closet with our jeans around our ankles crying after blowing each other while we have a house full of guests downstairs."

"I can." Nick laughed, happy to see his buddy returning to normal. "We're two pretty fucked up guys with sex addictions and a ton of emotional baggage. I have daddy issues, you have mommy issues and not a day goes by without one of us snapping over something. Face it, we're nuts."

"True." Greg echoed the laughter. "But at least we're not Hodges."

* * *

"Isn't Tawny the hottest girl you've ever seen?!" Hodges asked Archie. "She's gonna take me back to her place as soon as she's done eating cake." 

"You think so, huh?"

"She said it."

"She's faking."

"Jealous much?" Hodges laughed.

"Nick and Greg are paying her to flirt with you. It's payback for all the crap you've given them." Archie readied his video camera. "Are you that delusional? Girls like that never want geeks like us. Deep down you have to know something's not right with the situation."

A lump rising in his throat, Hodges stared at the beautiful bombshell.

"Check this out." Archie showed him the replay. "I caught Jan Sanders talking to Greg about it."

Hodges watched the tape and recalled what the woman had said to him earlier_. You wouldn't like it if that pretty little thing on your arm suddenly turned to you and said that she was being paid to be nice to you and we were all in on the joke, would you?_

Archie lowered the camera. "You've been punked, dude."

"Duh!" Hodges put on a brave face. "I knew what they were up to all along. I'm just going along with it until the right 'A Ha' moment arrives.

"Right."

* * *

"This is so wrong," Sara whispered as she and her husband snuck upstairs. "We're mature adults, but we're acting like horny teenagers looking for a room to get it on? People our age don't do this." 

"Catherine does it all the time."

"I stand corrected…people with healthy moral compasses don't do this." As Gil tugged her into the first room he found, she laughed, "but maybe we could take a walk on the wild side just once."

"It is our honeymoon." In the dark room, the eager husband began lustfully kissing his wife. "Having a torrid sexual encounter with a gorgeous woman at a party is on my list of things to do before I die. Indulge me."

"I indulged you in the car on the way here, remember?"

"Right." Gil smirked, "That means it's my turn to please you."

"No, let's just have sex." When she saw her husband's panic, she clarified, "I mean I want us both to enjoy it, not just me. It's your fantasy after all, not mine."

"I should probably protest, but I won't."

"Is the door locked?" she panicked when her jeans were shoved to her ankles.

"Yes."

"Just check to make sure."

He lunged to twist the knob. "Definitely locked."

"Okay." Sara dropped to all fours on the floor.

"I…"

"Wait!" She glanced over her shoulder. "We still need to use a condom. The doctor said the vasectomy isn't confirmed until you've gone back and been tested."

"I think I have one in my wallet." With his pants already around his ankles, Gil rolled onto his back and tried to reach his pocket.

"Don't aggravate your back injury."

"There's a line you never hear horny teens say in the dark." Laughing with his wife, he said, "I think…"

Much to their surprise the room was suddenly bathed in light.

Walking out of the bathroom naked, Nick and Greg never expected to see a bare-assed Sara imitating a doggie and Grissom poised like a turtle on its back with his pants at his ankles.

"You said you locked the door!" Sara screamed while rushing to pull up her jeans.

"They were already on the inside!"

"Uh." Nick whirled around so he wouldn't see Sara naked, but quickly realized that meant she was being treated to a view of his naked ass and he rushed for a bed pillow to cover his parts. "G! How about coverin' up?"

"Sara already checked me out in the decon shower and unless Grissom's a grower, I'm feeling pretty good."

Gil raced to yank up his pants.

Holding a pillow in front of his hips, Nick cleared his throat and said, "I think it goes without sayin', but…we're never gonna speak of this again, right?"

"Right," Sara and Gil chimed.

The birthday boy who was high on life had other plans. "Do what you want, but I'm totally gonna laugh my ass off about this regularly." Rubbing his hands together, he said, "Anyone up for streaking? It's on my list of things to do before I die. C'mon! You only live once!"

Sara half expected to see her husband raise his hand. "We'll pass, thanks."

"Yeah." Grissom nodded, "We need to get going."

Hurrying for the door, Sara yelled, "Happy birthday!"

"Night!" Wearing only a radiant smile, Greg waved. "Grissom got the girl, but I have an inch."

"I'm happy on both counts."

"The birthday gods are being very good to me tonight."

"And there's still Carvel cake to be eaten."

"Ooh!" Greg made a beeline for the door.

"G!" When his lover turned, Nick said, "Ironically, your birthday suit isn't appropriate attire for your birthday party."

"Doh!"

* * *

Feeling like a fool, Hodges ducked out of the party via the backyard gate_. I can't believe I thought she wanted me!_ As pissed as he was, he couldn't deny he deserved the payback. 

"Hodges!" Wendy shouted after him. "Wait up!" Having witnessed Archie's revelation, she knew her co-worker was hurting. "I overheard Archie telling you…"

"And you just couldn't wait to rub it in my face." He stuffed his hands on his hips. "Go ahead! Have a field day, Simms."

Seeing the hurt in his eyes, she softened her expression and voice, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn't want you to drive if you were upset."

"I took a cab." Realizing he was stranded, he stomped, "Dammit!" Reaching for his cell, he readied to call a cab company.

"I can drive you. I wanted to stay sober in case Mandy needed to bolt and cry on my shoulder, but she's back together with Henry and I'm…alone."

"Thanks, but I'll just call for a taxi."

"Okay."

Watching the girl of his fantasies walk away, Hodges realized he just turned down a ride home from her. _What the hell is wrong with me?!_ "Yes!" He slammed his cell phone shut. "Yes, I'd love a ride!"

Wendy turned around smiling. "Then I'll get my purse and be right back."

"I'll be here." He pointed to the sidewalk. "Waiting….for you." When she turned her back he pumped his fist in the air. "She sooooooo wants me! She wants me bad!" He grabbed a branch off a shrub and started plucking leaves. "She wants me. She wants me baaaaad. She wants me. She wants me…"

"Hodges?" Gil stared at his most irritating employee. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"Yes," The Trace Tech proudly admitted, "I'm one of the few people who can keep up with me in conversation." He strolled down the sidewalk whistling the theme from The Love Boat. "The USS Wenvid is about to set sail! Or crash into an iceberg." He resumed whistling.

**

* * *

****ANs:**

Sorry this one took so long. I had a crazy week! Thanks to KJT for editing on the run!!

I hope you had fun at the party and enjoyed the developments with Judge Stokes and Cassie. : )

I also posted a new Nick/Greg oneshot humor/romance with some GSR mentions in the first scene. It's called We May Have a Problem and can be found on the oneshots page: also did more chibi art - for reading and sharing your thoughts on the chapter, 

**Maggs**


	19. Chapter 19: Fathers and Sons

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 19: Fathers and Sons**

"Hello, baby." Kneeling before Mandy as he stood in her living room, Henry greeted his child for the first time. "It's your daddy. I'm so happy to meet you. I promise to never be out of your life again."

Tears filled the expectant mother's eyes. "Here." She lifted her sweater and tugged down the waistband of her jeans. "Now he can hear you better."

"He?" Henry tensed, "Did I miss the ultrasound?"

"No, that's just me guessing. I'm only 7 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound doesn't happen until week 20. Do you want to find out the sex?"

"Do you?" The more they discussed the baby, Henry's excitement grew. "Or would you rather be surprised?"

"I already got a nice surprise just finding out I was pregnant."

"Tell me about it."

Mandy was relieved to see him laughing about the drama now. "I think I'd like to find out. Then we can plan the nursery and pick a name…all that fun stuff. My sisters all got 4-D color ultrasounds - that's when they take 3-D images and create a live action video of the baby. You can actually see it moving around. It'll be like getting to know our baby while it's still in the womb."

"Yeah, let's do it. Let's find out." Love in his eyes, Henry puckered his lips and planted a single kiss below Mandy's belly button. "I want to know Baby Andrews as soon as I can."

"Baby Webster-Andrews."

Henry glanced up smiling, "You want to hyphenate?"

"I hope that's not a problem."

"No, not at all." Rising to his feet, he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and then took the hand of the teary mother-to-be. "What about you? Do you think you'd like to hyphenate your name some day?"

"We can't get married just because I'm pregnant."

"I know." Henry rapidly nodded. "My parents got married because my mom got pregnant and they ended up hating each other. We need to be a couple first and make sure we're compatible before we can even consider the idea. I was just asking because I was curious if you'll be hyphenating when we get married."

"Mandy Webster-Andrews."

It took all of Henry's willpower not to shriek like a girl when he heard his last name attached to the name of the woman of his dreams. "It has…" he had to wait for his future wife to stop smothering him with kisses before he could finish his thought, "…a really nice ring."

* * *

Standing in the kitchen waiting for coffee to brew, Greg mindlessly twirled the new band on his finger. Still buzzing from the party, he felt wired even though he was nursing a hangover and only had five hours of sleep. 

The rumble of his stomach interrupting his daydream, he reluctantly put his thoughts of a perfect honeymoon with Nick on hold and opened the freezer. Although they were having their family members over for brunch before the Dallas guests went home, Greg decided to have an appetizer of leftover Carvel ice cream cake.

Just as he was cutting a generous slice, the doorbell rang. "It's Grandma Jan, Chico!" She was coming to cook before everyone else got there. "I don't know why she had to ring the bell when I gave her a key." He hoped she didn't wake Nick. "Maybe she's getting senile, Chico." He laughed on the way to answer the ring. "Maybe she'll forget she enjoys giving me a hard time. Go outside, boy!" he commanded. "Go play!"

Once the dog was racing away, Greg opened the front door. His smile immediately flipped into a frown.

"Hello, Mr. Sanders." Bill Stokes gave a polite nod to his son's boyfriend. "I hope you don't mind me showin' up on your doorstep unannounced."

"That depends on why you're here. If you're here to mentally abuse Nick a little more then the answer is yes, I do mind and you can go to hell, but if you're here because you sincerely want to clear the air, then my answer is no, I don't mind at all, come on in."

"The only absolute guarantee I'm able to make at the moment is that I won't be disrespectful to you or my son and I will try to keep an open mind."

"That would certainly be a nice change of pace," Greg snipped, not ready to forgive the man who had ripped apart his partner's heart.

Removing his favorite Stetson, Bill placed it over his heart and said, "I sincerely apologize for my behavior the last time I was in town. I was horribly rude while under your roof and grossly insensitive, especially since there were ladies in the room. I fully intend to offer an apology up to your mother as well." Standing tall, he added, "I'm not the kind of man who makes excuses, Mr. Sanders, but I hope you'll take into consideration that I was still in a state of shock at the time. Findin' out that your son of 35 years is gay when you've had no suspicions, is quite jarring."

"I'll give you that." Greg stood his ground, "But then how do you explain your behavior for the past month?"

"You're absolutely right." The contrite father confessed, "I've not handled things well since that day either. Ignorance, fear, stubbornness and an already rocky relationship with my son continued to fuel my anger over the situation, and I won't lie…my religious beliefs and political views are not gay-friendly and I had no intention of changing my opinion on the subjects of homosexuality and gay marriage, but then my wife of almost 50 years walked out of our home yesterday and I'm honestly not sure she's gonna come back. She'll return to Dallas alright, but I'm not certain she'll return to me and our marriage."

"So, you're here to save your marriage, not because you want to have a relationship with Nick?"

"Does it really matter how I got here, Mr. Sanders? The facts are I came to your door, I apologized, and I'm going to try my best to work through this situation."

Believing his birthday wish was on the verge of coming true, Greg decided to welcome in Judge Stokes, but before he could get the words out, Nick answered from behind him.

"Let him in, G." The doorbell had woken him and he had been eavesdropping the whole time. "For my mother's sake, I'm willin' to talk to him." He decided to test his father's tolerance level by hugging Greg. "I appreciate you watchin' my back. I'll take it from here, okay?"

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

"Thanks." Nick challenged his father again, by caressing Greg's cheek.

Bill watched the two men act like a loving couple and tried to believe their lifestyle wasn't an abomination. They looked so gentle with one another that it was hard to imagine them doing the vile things he knew they did in the bedroom. He didn't want to believe a son of his would crave such depravity, but this trip wasn't about wallowing in denial, it was about accepting the situation and moving on.

"Right this way." Nick estimated his pulse rate was nearing 100. "We can talk in the family room." That way he could see Greg in the kitchen and signal for help if he needed it.

"Hey, Cletus," Greg whispered as they walked, "you should probably talk out back, because Jan's going to be here any minute to cook." The last thing Greg wanted was for his mother to blast Judge Stokes and ruin the possible reconciliation. "Maybe out by the pool?"

"Yeah, good plan." Nick felt a twinge of encouragement when he saw his father didn't look nauseous from the public displays of affection. "It's such a nice day, Dad…let's sit by the pool and enjoy the fresh air."

"I just made a pot of Kona," Greg announced, trying to be as upbeat as possible. "I'll bring you out some. How do you take your coffee, Sir?"

"Just a little milk or cream, thank you, and how about we end the formality and you just call me Bill?"

"Sounds good, Bill." Greg's hand trembled as he reached for the coffee pot.

Glancing around at the tastefully decorated home, the anxious father said, "This is a real nice place you got here."

Thankfully they had paid extra money to have a maid service clean up after the party.

The only hints that a gay couple was living in it were the family photos on the wall. "Is it your home, Greg? Did you invite Nicky to…"

"It's** our** home," Nick proudly stated. "We split the down-payment 50-50 and both of our names are on the mortgage. Greg's dad bought my townhouse as an investment property, that's where I got my cash."

"Well…you certainly work hard enough to deserve a nice home, son. You too, Greg. Good for you both."

"Thank you." The fact that his father was still referring to him as son notched Nick's hopes a little higher. "We're really happy here."

"Yeah! It's a** great** neighborhood," Greg's nervous habit of overtalking reared its ugly head. "I love being in a gated community, and the amenities are top notch. It has a ton of parks and a well-lit jogging trail and good schools, which will be important in the future when we expand the family with a bambino or two. My mom has taken it upon herself to find a surrogate willing to go two rounds, that way our kids will be blood related." When he saw Nick give him the secret 'stop talking' gesture they had created to help him with his problem, Greg took the hint.

Unable to deal with the prospect of a child being raised by two daddies, Bill reached for another positive thing to say. "Property in a good neighborhood is always a sound investment."

Forgetting he wasn't supposed to talk, Greg said, "We have a little nest egg building too. It's not much, but my dad is really good at investing, so he's handling it for us, trying to make something out of it. We also have a 401k at work, so we should be comfortable in our golden years." He cut himself off when he realized he was rambling again.

"Sounds like you two have really thought things through."

Nick nodded at his father. "You and Mom always told us kids that we better not enter into marriage without a plan for the future."

"Wanna see our rings?" Greg enthused, forgetting his audience for a moment. "They're on our right hands as engagement rings and we'll move them to the left at the ceremony." When he saw both Nick and Judge Stokes pursing their lips, he knew he had to chill.

"Sure," Bill replied after an awkward hesitation. "Let's have a look."

When Nick didn't move, Greg walked over and showed off his. "Here."

"It's a Celtic knot," Bill stated, surprised that his son had picked something similar to his grandfather. "Nicky's grandpa had somethin' very close to this." He found it disturbing and comforting at the same time.

"That's why he picked it."

Nick didn't let himself get too encouraged, because he knew his father was trying to save his marriage and probably faking his tolerance.

On the way back around the kitchen island, Greg resumed overtalking, "We're writing our own vows for the ceremony. It's going to be at sunset on the beach. My mom rented this great house. It has floor to ceiling windows in the back, so you can see the ocean everywhere you look. It has this amazing garden patio."

When Chico came bounding into the room, Nick was grateful for the distraction. "This is Chico. We adopted him. He's a **great **dog."

Thankful for the change in subject, Bill crouched down to greet the pooch. "Howdy, Chico."

"Jan's here!" Greg panicked when he heard keys in the door.

"Let's head outside, Dad."

Not in the mood for the crazy woman, Bill hurried as fast as his old legs would carry him.

* * *

"Slow down," Gil huffed, trying to keep up with his wife and dog. Since the weather was perfect, they decided to take Bruno for a hike in the mountains before heading to bed around noon. 

"He's tracking a scent!" Sara yelled over her shoulder.

The relaxing hike turning into a sprint, the Entomologist was disappointed. "I can't look for bugs when we're going this fast!"

"Bruno! Slow down!" Sara tried snapping the leash, but it did nothing to deter the pooch from running. "Let's just let him find whatever it is and then he'll calm down."

"I hope it's not a DB, because we're on our honeymoon, Sara."

"We got a 419!" she shouted when Bruno stopped. "Adult male just off the trail!"

"Are you sure he's dead?!" Gil imagined a passed-out hiker.

"He's covered in flies!" When she saw her husband race forward, she teased, "Look who's running now. Geek."

"Tie Bruno to that tree over there. We can't risk him compromising evidence." Pulling a glove out of his pocket, Gil crouched down. "Caucasian, about 6'2", athletic build…expensive hiking boots."

Sara smiled when she saw her husband had brought a pair of latex gloves along for their relaxing stroll. "He could have overheated. It's easy to do in the afternoon in May. Today is unseasonably cool, but two days ago it wasn't." She wasn't in the mood for another Vegas murder, so she was mentally pulling for natural causes.

Gently moving branches off the man's head, Gil said, "Dried blood on the skull."

"Tripped and hit his head on rock?"

"Bullet hole."

"Dammit! Why doesn't anyone ever drop dead anymore?" Shaking her head, she reached for her cell. "I'll call it in and grab my kit."

"Start the crime tape at the entrance to the parking area."

"Okay."

"Wait! I found a wallet." Gil pulled out a driver's license, but realized he didn't have his reading glasses.

Without being asked, Sara leaned in to read it for her husband, "Mike Rodgers. Age 46. Summerlin." She stared at the body. "He's a cop."

"I don't recognize the name."

"He just transferred from Dallas. He was working the tape the other night. He was born here, but moved to Dallas after college. I heard the guys saying he moved back because his wife died in a boating accident and he wanted to get away from the memories."

"Maybe he was suicidal."

"He did seem a little melancholy the other night." Sara flipped open her cell phone. "He asked me out for coffee, but I politely declined citing that I already had a wonderful man in my life."

"Would you have said yes, if we weren't together?"

Staring sadly at the corpse, she nodded, "I think I might have. He seemed like a really nice guy." Meeting her husband's eyes, she said, "And if we weren't together by now, I would have been desperate to get lucky."

"Good thing I got my act together," Gil winked. "Could you fill Bruno's portable water dish before you make the call? I don't want him to get thirsty over there."

"You're such a good father to our little boy."

* * *

"Dad!" Greg exclaimed when he saw his father, not his mother in the doorway. "I thought Mom was coming to cook?" 

"She's moving a little slow this morning." Dave handed over two of the four grocery bags he was holding.

When Greg saw his mother clutching her head, he knew she was hungover.

"I'm waaaaay too old for margaritas," Jan moaned.

"I'm going to help your mother get started and then I'll pick up the girls from Evelyn's." When he saw panic in his son's eyes, Dave got worried. "Is something wrong? You look tense? Are you and Nick having a fight?"

Walking into the house, Jan rolled her bloodshot eyes. "Nick's probably splayed on the kitchen table covered in whipped cream."

"Nick isn't covered in whipped cream and we're not in the middle of a fight." Greg shut the front door and explained, "His dad show up ten minutes ago. He said he came to talk things out. They're out by the pool and I've been in here pacing."

Jan raced to the window to spy. "I'll rest on the couch and give a play-by-play while the two of you cook."

"Good thing you have this open floor plan, son." Dave set his bags on the island. "The spy can just yell into the kitchen."

"Nick thought it would be great for sports viewing. He set up the furniture so he can see the TV in the corner of the family room even if he's at the fridge getting a beer or making a sandwich."

Dave laughed at the thought of his non-athletic son shacking up with a die-hard football fan. "I can't wait to see you suffer through your first season as a football widow."

"I'll be fine." Greg took out a bowl to whip eggs. "While he's in here enjoying the game, I'll be in the office working on my new project."

"What's the new paper about?"

"No, it's not a paper, I'm going to write a book on old Las Vegas."

Remembering how obsessed his son was after meeting Lois O'Neil and reading her book, he said, "I knew you were intrigued about the subject, but I didn't think you'd take it that far. Why not another forensics paper?"

"Nick encouraged me to do the book instead."

"Ah." The overachieving father wasn't sure how a book on Vegas was going to further his son's career. "I guess I'm just a little surprised that you'd listen to him after you were so jazzed about your first paper getting published. In Long Beach you told me you couldn't wait to dive into the next one."

"I did start it, but when Nick saw how stressed it was making me, he told me his therapist said that guys in our line of work need hobbies that have nothing to do with the job. After working cases all night, I'd come home and think about the cases in the paper. Nick didn't think it was healthy to jump right back into the stress of trying to get published, especially when this is personally a really fun and special time for us. We bought a new house, we're getting married in two months…I just want to immerse myself in happiness. After the year I had, I think it's a good choice." Sensing his career-focused father was disappointed, Greg assured him, "I promise to do another paper, Dad, but not until after I have a little decompression time."

"I'm sorry." Dave held up his hands. "I shouldn't be encouraging you to be a workaholic like I was at your age. You and your mother both deserved more of my time."

"He couldn't admit that until the age of 58, Greg!" Jan yelled from the family room. "I'm glad Nicky convinced you to stop and smell the roses while you're young."

"How's it looking out there, Mom?"

"Seems like Nick is doing most of the talking."

"The guy's a judge," Dave reminded his wife, "he's used to listening carefully to the details and only interrupting when necessary."

* * *

"Excuse me, son," Bill held up a hand, signaling a time out. "Do you really feel I never loved you as much as your siblings?" 

"I don't think, I know." Nick remained calm and continued to unburden himself. "After five girls, you were happy to get another son, but I wasn't like Chuck. I was a disappointment and you didn't let a day go by without remindin' me of that fact."

"It didn't help that you came along at a very stressful time in my life." Sticking to honesty, Bill shared, "I was at a critical juncture in my career and I'm sure I didn't have the same patience with you because of the job stress and the fact that I had already been a father six times. That sounds horrible, but my point is, a lot of it was timing, not you. But you're right in that I was often disappointed in your behavior and your abilities. Many times I believed you were doin' things on purpose just to piss me off."

"My therapist had me tested for adult ADD. All those focus issues I had as a kid…ADD. Turns out, it's good for me now, it keeps me hyper-focused at work." Averting his eyes, Nick confessed, "At times it's worked against me though…most notably the night I was too focused on the case to notice I was about to be kidnapped."

Judge Stokes took a deep breath and made another apology, "I regret how I handled things that night at the hospital. I never should have blamed you for puttin' your mother through that stress. Your kidnapper and the cop who should have been protectin' you were the only ones at fault that night. In hindsight, the thought of me screamin' at you after that ordeal, makes me feel like a monster."

"Sometimes, Dad…" Nick bit back his tears, "you really were a monster to me as a kid. I was scared, strugglin' and really tryin' my hardest to be what you wanted me to be. It's really okay if you can't say that you're happy about my lifestyle, I really won't mind, because 73 years of programming is hard to undo. The one thing I do need from you…is for you to admit you were mentally abusive to me about things that were beyond my control as a child. That's what I need if some serious healin' is gonna occur here. And I don't want you to admit it because you're tryin' to get back in Mama's good graces, I want you to admit it, because it's the God's honest truth."

"After hearin' some of the examples you gave me and thinkin' back…" The stoic man gave a small nod, "I admit that I expected too much and hurt you terribly. I don't believe I did it to be malicious, my intentions were to prepare you for this difficult world we live in, but my approach was wrong and often…cruel. If I had known about the molestation I absolutely believe I would have cut you all the slack in the world."

"Fair enough, but if you had figured out I was strugglin' with my sexuality, I shudder to think about what you would have done to fix me."

"Those were different times, Nicky. I woulda thought I was doin' right by you. Hell, I thought that until yesterday, who am I kiddin'?"

"And now?"

"Now I believe you are gay, not by choice, but by creation. I still wish you were straight, because life would be less complicated for everyone, especially you."

Nick could barely believe his ears.

"But as complicated as things are, it could be much worse - you're not jumpin' from bed to bed and meetin' up with men in bathrooms and bath houses nightly, you don't have AIDS, and you're not doin' things for shock value to embarrass your family. I'm tryin' to accept that you're livin' a good life, you're just livin' it with a man instead of a woman, because…that's what comes naturally to you."

"That's it exactly, Dad." Nick swallowed the lump in his throat. "I didn't wake up one day and say I think I'll piss off my dad by bein' gay. I denied the urge to be with a man since puberty. Some women felt wrong, some felt okay, one or two were real nice, but Greg feels perfect in my arms. As unnatural as two men lovin' each other seems to you…as vile as the things we do with each other might sound…it all feels wonderfully normal to me and in my heart, I know God doesn't hate me for lovin' a man anymore than he'd hate a right-handed person for not bein' able to write with their left hand. That's why I refused your offers of help. Not out of disrespect or because I wanted to cause problems for the family, but because there's nothin' to fix. Even though you came here because of mom…"

"It wasn't your mother who made me see things differently, she's just the reason I flew here so fast." Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out Cassie's letter. "I know you still remember your scripture, Nicholas." He quoted the Bible, "Then the little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these'." Sliding the letter across the patio table, he smiled, "A little girl, who I absolutely believe is a child of God spared from death to do somethin' great in this world, came to me yesterday via the post office."

Nick immediately recognized Cassie's handwriting which was done in her favorite purple glitter pen. He had given one to her in the hospital and she had been using them ever since. "Cassie wrote you a letter?"

"A thesis actually."

As much as he hated to cry in front of his father, Nick couldn't hold back his tears as he read Cassie's desperate words.

* * *

Jan excitedly reported, "The crusty neo-con just handed Nick some papers and he's choking up reading them." 

Greg raced to the window, wondering if he should run out to the pool and make sure his partner was okay.

"I bet I know what it is," Dave said with a smile. "Cassie wrote the bastard a letter."

"What?" Greg and Jan chimed.

"She asked me to send it priority mail."

"Why didn't you tell me, Dad?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up. I told Cassie not to get excited either." The proud adoptive-father-to-be beamed a smile, "She's going to be on cloud 9 if this works out."

"I can't watch him wiping his tears and not go out there." Greg's head was going to explode from the tension.

"Go make quiche like a good gay boy," Jan laughed, "because what's going on is between Nick and his father and it's going well. Do not interrupt them."

"Okay, okay." Greg returned to the kitchen and picked up the whisk. "Dad, could you grab the cream out of the fridge?"

"Sure." Dave grabbed the carton from the shelf and opened it as he walked to the island. "How much do you need?" When forcing open the carton, cream shot out and splattered on Greg's shirt. "Sorry, son. This is why your mother doesn't usually let me help her."

"It's no biggie." Greg unbuttoned the shirt, taking it off to rinse it before tossing it in the laundry room.

"What's that?" Dave studied the bruises on his son's chest.

_Shit! _Greg raced over to grab his A&M sweatshirt from the hook by the back door and tugged it on quickly.

"How did that one happen?" Dave huffed. "Let me guess…he grabbed you in the heat of passion."

"Exactly."

"You're lying." The perceptive father saw it immediately. "You've had the same tells since you were four and lying about swiping cookies from the jar. He shoved you, didn't he? Hard, from what I saw."

"David…" Jan interrupted, "Just leave him alone."

"I know Nick loves you, Greg, but how healthy is the relationship if he's controlling what you do and…"

"What is he controlling?" Greg snapped.

"He picked this house."

"I love this house!"

"Do you? Or do you love that he loves it? Because in pre-Nick life, this was not the kind of house you said you wanted, not even close." Dave pointed to the plasma. "He set up the room so it's optimal for him watching sports. Where are you in this room? This room looks nothing like somewhere you'd live."

"The family room is his place to decompress and mine's the office. He decorated out here, I decorated in there, and we both had input on the bedroom."

"And what about telling you to put the paper on hold? Hmm?"

"I already explained why I put the paper on hold. That wasn't him controlling me, that was him looking out for me when he saw me getting stressed!"

"How do you know he doesn't want you to do the paper because he's jealous of your success?"

"What?!"

"You're both working toward the same goals at LVPD, aren't you?"

Jan remained quiet, deciding to let them hash it out on their own for once.

"You honestly think the man I'm marrying is trying to subvert me at work?"

"I just feel like you're always covering something up, Gregory."

"You're right, I am."

Jan's attention returned to her own family, instead of Nick and Judge Stokes.

"Nick didn't think I was stressed because I was having trouble sleeping, Dad. He got concerned when he caught me popping pills on the sly."

"Pills?" Dave's concern skyrocketed. "What kind of pills?"

Surprised to hear pills instead of the truth about Nick shoving him, Jan stormed into the kitchen. "Answer your father, Gregory! What kind of pills?"

"Painkillers. I've been using them on and off since the beating. They chill me out when I'm stressed. I don't have to worry about failing a drug test at work, because it's in my file that I experience chronic pain from the beating and I'm allowed to take something while off the clock." His animosity for his father growing, Greg's voice grew rougher. "Nick came up with a stress reduction plan for me and he's been helping me lift weights to feel better and we're running together so I can alleviate stress naturally. He makes sure I eat healthy too. So, I guess you are right, he is controlling, but not in bad way. Why the hell can't you see that already? Look at the party he just threw me last night. Why are you saying this shit, Dad?"

"Because I've already seen him give you 5 bruises, Greg!"

"I bruise easy. Tell him, Mom. I've always bruised easy."

"Remember when he was little, David…we used to worry that people would think we beat him because he'd have so many."

"No, I don't remember that."

"Of course not," Greg snapped, "because you were working and never home."

"That's already been established and apologized for, Greg." Dave crossed his arms over his chest. "So, why don't you admit you're redirecting, hoping I'll forget about the bruise?"

"Ugh!" Greg gripped his hair. "Why can't you take the hint that it's personal, Dad?"

"Why can't you take the hint that I love you and I'm worried that you're so desperate to be loved that you're letting things happen that shouldn't?!"

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you how it happened! Since it was my birthday, Nick suggested I fuck him for a change. It was his first time and it hurt. Instinctually he pushed me away when I was on top of him." A sarcastic smile filled Greg's face. "You gotta love that answer, because having a son who only takes it in the ass has been bugging the hell out of you."

"Going for shock value now, are we?" Dave shook his head, "Not biting. It's just another attempt at redirection, Greg."

"Why my preference for submission has any correlation to your ego is beyond me, but you can rest easy now, because I gave it to him good. I pounded him so hard, it's a freakin' miracle he could walk last night. Me, your geeky non-athletic son topped the jock like a pro and it won't be the last time! I would have gone for round two after the party, but I'm a nice guy and I knew he was sore!" Shaking with anger, he asked, "Wanna light cigars and pound our chests together to celebrate?"

"That's enough, Gregory!" Jan stepped in between them. "Enough," she said in her husband's direction.

"You knew what happened, didn't you, Jan?"

"Yes." She covered for Nick, pretending the bruise didn't occur during a shove. "That's exactly why I told you to leave him alone. It was a special moment between the two of them and he didn't want to discuss with you."

"But he discussed it with you." Maintaining his composure, Dave looked Greg in the eyes and said, "It's never been about me being ashamed of you. My concern has **always** been about the relationship not being balanced. When you were a teenager and wanted to be reckless, I told you I didn't care how pissed off you got at me, it was my job to keep you safe and if that meant you hating me in the process, so be it. The same applies now, Greg. I've been doing my best to make sure you are in a safe and healthy situation. If you could be honest with me like you are with your mother, then I wouldn't have to push to get the answers I need to feel better and to know you're safe. But I guess I shouldn't expect you to be as close to me, when she did 95 percent of the parenting while I worked."

Feeling guilty for yelling and knowing he was lying about the bruise, Greg lowered his eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm glad you got that off your chest."

Playing the peacemaker, Jan said, "Greg, we can look back and say we wish he hadn't worked as hard as he did, but we can't deny that we're enjoying the fruits of his labor. We can't have it both ways. We can't have a great time in Maui and on The Freyja, but bitch him out for working for those very things. It's a mixed message, don't you think?"

Still looking at the floor, Greg nodded.

"I know you're 33, but even still, it has to be hard to watch your dad parent Jenni the way he didn't parent you. I think it's hitting you harder than all of us thought. I know it's hitting him harder than he thought."

"She absolutely right, son."

"I know, Dad. I know."

Jan grabbed her son's hand. "If your father had been home more, we probably wouldn't be as close as we are. You probably wish that was true, but I don't. I'm thrilled about what we had and still have, and now that you're an adult, I'm having a blast being your friend and confidante as well as your mother."

"Me too," Greg cried as he reached out to hug her. "You're an incredible pain in the ass sometimes, but I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, honey, even though you're an incredible pain in the ass most of the time."

Glancing over his mother's shoulder as they clung to each other, Greg saw his father wiping his eyes. "I love you too, Dad."

Jan stepped back, so father and son could embrace.

"I love you, Greg...so much." Dave clung to his adult son, wishing he could make up for all the lost time, while knowing he never could. "And because I do, I want the best for you. No matter how it feels or what it looks like sometimes…that's all it is."

"What's goin' on?" Nick asked when he entered the house to refill his father's coffee mug. "What happened? Why is everyone cryin'?"

Jan answered while drying her eyes with a dishtowel, "Our little boy's another year older and he's starting a family of his own. It's time to let go and it's a little harder than we thought."

"Much harder." Dave gave Greg a gentle push in Nick's direction. "But thankfully we can rest easy knowing he's in good hands."

* * *

When Hodges awoke, he noticed two things...his head was throbbing and a woman's arm was draped over him. "What the…" Seeing Wendy peacefully snoozing next to him, he gasped and covered his mouth. _It wasn't a dream! _Lifting the covers he checked to see if she was wearing clothes. _She's naked as the day she was born!_ His headache disappeared as his excitement grew. _Dad would so proud of me._

"Mmm." Stirring from slumber, Wendy stretched and yawned with her eyes closed. "I can't believe I had a raunchy dream about Hodges. God, he was good in bed." Laughing, she opened her eyes.

"How do you like your eggs, Simms?" he asked with rock star bravado.

"Scr…" She bolted up in bed, clinging to the vintage Dukes of Hazard comforter shielding her naked body.

"Ready for round three?" Grinning, he held up a condom. "Wanna be on top again? Or are you in the mood for something a little more unconventional?" He dangled a pair of cuffs.

Wendy's shrieks rattled the framed Fantasy Island cast photos on the bedroom wall.

"Okay, okay, you're not into bondage." He tossed the cuffs and ripped the condom open with his teeth. "We'll stick with conventional. Do you want me to suck your toes again?" He wiggled his eyebrows and smacked his lips. "I hope there's still something left in that tube of Liquid Love you pulled from your purse last night." He pointed to the bedside table. "Can you grab it? It's right there next to your black lacy bra. By the way, if I stretched it out last night when you made me wear it, I'll buy you a new one."

Wendy threw back the covers and raced for the bathroom.

"Good idea." Hodges followed. "We should pee first." When he heard her violently wretching, he asked, "Can I get you a Ginger Ale, Snookums?"

Grabbing the porcelain bowl for dear life, Wendy screamed, "OH MY GOD!" and then purged once more. "I can't believe…" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, "I slept with YOU!"

"What?" His heart broke when he realized she regretted their union. "I…I don't understand. Last night you were…"

"Drunk beyond all reason!"

"Oh."

"No woman in her right mind would sleep with you…Davy!"

"I…" He wondered why she was calling him by his first name, especially if she was pissed.

"Daaaaavy."

When Hodges opened his eyes, he was shocked to see Wendy looking fresh as a flower instead of perched over a toilet puking. "Wh…"

"You were sleeping so fitfully I thought you were going to roll off my couch and smack your head on the coffee table."

"Your couch?" He realized he wasn't in his apartment. "I fell asleep at your place?"

"Right after downing seven shots of tequila and cried because no one likes you."

"But did I do anything embarrassing?"

"Uh…" If he didn't remember, she wasn't going to tell him. "Other than asking to watch a Fantasy Island rerun? No."

"Did we sleep together?"

"In your dreams probably." She padded to the kitchen laughing. "I'm making some eggs. Want some? How do you like them?"

_Wendy Simms wants to make me eggs._ "Yeah, I'd love some," he replied through a hopeful smile. "Sunny side up."

* * *

**ANs: **

Thanks for reading and for you comments on the last chapter! I'm posting on the fly! Thanks to KJT for editing super-fast!

I hope the father/son scenes rang true. I wanted to end with a tone of optimism, so I went with the Hodges asking for his eggs sunny side up! LOL If you have feedback on the chapter, I'd love to hear it : )

If you don't read my other series - Mike Rodgers is an inside joke because he is the villan who is Grissom's nemesis because Mike got away with almost killing Sara. Sara decided to go out with Mike when Grissom forgot her birthday and she realized he was never going to come around and have a relationship with her.

It may take until Monday to get the next chapter out, because I'm working a few days and then it's onto a weekend full of two kid birthday parties, a Halloween event, a school carnival, soccer, karate, and my daughter has a competition. The weekend before Halloween is always insanely jammed with stuff LOL we're like marathon exhausted by Sunday night.

**Maggs **


	20. Chapter 20: Fathers and Sons  Part 2

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 20: Fathers and Sons – Part 2**

"What about your brother's campaign?" Bill Stokes asked his son while lifting his coffee mug. "Are you willing to keep things quiet, so he doesn't have to deal with the gay brother issue every time he faces reporters?"

"After the way he's treated Greg and me, I don't owe him any favors." At peace with his reply, Nick relaxed in his chair. "In spite of my resentment toward Chuck, my decision to go public has nothing to do with him or his campaign, and **everything** to do with me no longer bein' ashamed of who I am. I'm not going to be the ugly family secret for Chuck's sake or anyone's."

Bill didn't mask his disappointment.

"Don't be a hypocrite, Dad…how many times have you said 'you reap what you sow'?" Nick confidently said, "Whatever grief Chuck gets over havin' a gay brother is wholeheartedly deserved in my opinion. He got away with violently assaulting a gay schoolmate, because that kid was too terrified to speak up and point fingers."

"I've discussed that with him and I think he should make peace with…"

"Reggie Healy's dead." Morphing into his work persona, Nick coolly explained, "I did some research recently and discovered that the Healy family left Dallas a month after the beating. They relocated to New Mexico, hopin' a change of location would snap their son out of his funk. It didn't. He shot himself and left a note sayin' he was better off dead." He stared into his father's unblinking eyes. "I know where he got that idea. Chuck has spewed hateful words for decades and we will never know the extent of their damage, but do we really need to know more than Reggie Healy's story?" Leaning in, he quietly said, "Chuck hates gays. I'm not perfect, Dad, I hate people too…criminals, especially ones who abuse kids and commit hate crimes. Chuck's penance is long overdue as far as I'm concerned and if fieldin' uncomfortable questions in the public eye is the biggest punishment he ever gets, then I say he's damn lucky, because we both know that punishment doesn't come close to fittin' his crime, does it, Judge Stokes?"

"Nick…"

"Don't forget to be impartial, Your Honor," the son reminded in a steely voice.

After losing the staring contest, Bill said, "I've never had the opportunity to watch you do your job, Nicholas…until now."

Not realizing he had switched gears quite so harshly, Nick cracked a stress-induced smile. "I kinda go to a different place when I'm interrogatin' someone. It helps me not get emotional in front of the suspects. Even after all these years, it doesn't always work. I lose it every now and then…child abusers and killers are the ones most likely to still provoke me. Throwin' Cassie's kidnapper up against the wall a few times got me the information I needed, so I can't say it's always the wrong approach."

"That could have cost you your job."

Nick's smile spread, "I woulda been okay with that considerin' the outcome. If Cassie had been dead when I found her, from havin' her throat slit and bein' tossed into the water by that monster...I don't want to think about what I woulda done to her killer. God is able to forgive everyone, but I haven't found that ability quite yet."

"You know what your grandpa always said…humans are a work in progress until the day they die."

* * *

"Looks like you've done a great job planning this book," Dave Sanders announced, upon reviewing his son's project outline and work thus far. He had suggested they talk privately in the office while Jan made breakfast. "I'm very impressed." He was determined to work through their issues and do a little bonding. 

"The research and writing is so much fun, it doesn't even feel like work." Grabbing a binder, he cracked it open. "Check this out. Lily let me copy all her old photographs from back in the day."

"Wow."

"I know!" Greg's excitement grew every time he viewed them. "The first time I saw those pictures, I was overwhelmed with deja vu. I really think I was there in a previous life. It would totally explain why I felt drawn to work in Vegas, right? I wanted to come back home."

"Your Grandma Olaf would agree with you, but you know me," the skeptical father chuckled, "I never believed any of that…" He caught himself before saying 'crap'. "She swore you'd get a stripper pregnant if you moved here, remember? How do you explain her not figuring out you were gay?"

"Whoa." Greg glanced up from the photos. "Tawny's a stripper and mom asked her to be a surrogate. If she says yes, then Nana Olaf's prediction would be right! I think my next book will be on psychics."

"I forgot about that." Dave was hoping to find an ally in his son's boyfriend. "Does Nick believe in all the supernatural stuff like you and your mother do? He seems way too grounded in reality for it."

"He had a run in with a psychic while we were workin' to find Cassie and between that and my detailed Grandma Olaf stories, I think he's starting to believe."

"When do you find time to tell him detailed stories?" Dave teased. "On the way to and from the shower?"

"Very funny. Believe it or not, we don't fill all of our free time with sex." Greg pointed to the sofa in the home office. "After my jock fiancé is done with ESPN and watching whatever he DVR'd for the day, he comes in here and dives onto the couch to hang out with me. Depending on our moods, we talk, fool around, plan our future, we've even argued about baby names. He wants to go totally traditional, but I want my kid to have something with a little flair."

The vision of domestic bliss brought a needed smile to the worried father's face.

"Since a baby isn't even in the works yet, we have plenty of time to work out a compromise." Returning the photo album to its special spot, Greg said, "Sometimes Nick can tell I'm lost in my research, so he just gives me a quick kiss and grabs a book or magazine to read on the couch. After being alone for so long it's just really nice having someone sharing my space. I finally feel safe in my own home again. I hated not having someone around when I heard an odd noise or panicked that I had left the back door open. Nick checks all the locks before we go to bed."

Dave gave his son's shoulder a supportive squeeze. "I think my problem isn't Nick. I think it's me having a hard time with you wanting to **have** a husband, rather than be one."

"Being nervous about unlocked doors has nothing to do with me being a girly man. I'm still freaked from getting jumped and beaten within an inch of my life, Dad."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I need to accept you choosing to be the more submissive one in the relationship."

Plopping into his office chair, Greg tried to relax. "I'm not pushover either. I let Nick have all the control he needs, because I know he needs it way more than me. Victims of childhood sexual abuse and violent kidnappings want to feel in control of their universe. I get that, and I'm happy making life as easy for him as possible, because I think he deserves it after the shit he's been through."

"Is that why you agreed to buy this traditional house instead of the one you dreamed of owning one day?"

"Nana Olaf used to say that love isn't a selfless act - it requires sacrifice, patience, and a little insanity. This house, the retriever, the football stuff on the walls – that's me sacrificing some of my desires so Nick can have his fulfilled, but it's not like he hasn't done stuff for me."

"Your Nana might have been wrong about the amount of insanity," Dave laughed, "I'd say it takes more than a little to spend decades with the same person, but it's absolutely worth it if you can endure it." He took a seat on the edge of the desk. "I wish I could say the right thing to make you see that I'm completely supportive of you and Nick, even if I'm uncomfortable about certain aspects of your life together."

"And I'm trying really hard to see things through your perspective and cut you some slack."

"As a parent it's hard to watch your child get hurt, physically or mentally." A vision of Greg's battered face popping into his head, Dave shivered, "I've seen you hurt too many times and I'm overly sensitive because of it. You'll know what I'm feeling one day when you have a child of your own."

"If you thought it was hard when you had one son, now you have two beautiful daughters to worry about." Greg flashed a warm smile. "You better invest in a jumbo bottle of Maalox when they start dating and bawling their eyes out over boys."

"No shit." The thought of parenting teenage daughters terrified him. "I'll have to come up with an intimidating speech to give their dates."

"Or borrow one of Nick's shotguns."

"How many guns does he have around here?"

"Would you please stop worrying?" Greg redirected back to the original topic, "I'll admit that Nick and I have had some pretty heated disagreements because we're both dysfunctional hotheads, but so far we've been great about keeping the yelling to a minimum and rationally talking things though after the initial explosion. Believe me when I say that even during our most passionate arguments, I don't feel abused or threatened in any way, I swear on Nana Olaf's grave."

Upon seeing none of the usual signs that his son was lying, Dave nodded, "I believe you."

"That said, I'm pretty sure Nick would kill me if he found me in bed with someone else, but thankfully I'm into monogamy and we won't have to find out if I'm right." Happy with the progress they were making, Greg took a cleansing breath and approached the next delicate topic. "Dad…I really need you to believe me when I say the relationship isn't abusive in any way."

"It's just really hard for me to do that when I'm looking at bruises."

"We've been through this already, Dad. Men are aggressive by nature, so sex between guys is going to be less delicate. I swear Nick and I both understand that no means no. We completely respect each other's boundaries, probably more than most people would, because we've both suffered from some serious personal space violations."

"That does make sense."

Tugging down his shirt collar, Greg said, "This won't be the last mark you see on me, because Ireally do bruise easily and…"

"And?"

"And sometimes I specifically ask Nick to make things a little…energetic." When he saw his father's tense reaction, Greg rushed to clarify, "Nothing crazy, not by a long shot. Seriously, we're so vanilla we'd be laughed out of Lady Heather's. But I enjoy what I enjoy and I don't want my lover to be so paranoid that he refuses to clamp his hands around my wrists or grab me when I want him to. I know how Nick's mind works - he's so messed up from seeking validation from his own father, that he's hell bent on not disappointing you either. If you keep hassling him about being too rough with me, he won't be able to touch me unless I'm bubbled wrapped on a feather bed."

"People probably pay for that sort of thing at Lady Heather's." Surprised he was able to chuckle as they tiptoed through the awkward subject, Dave calmly said, "I won't lie, seeing evidence of your _energetic_ sex with Nick makes me uncomfortable."

"I know it does. Then I get pissed at you for getting uncomfortable and we keep having the same stupid argument about Nick being abusive when we both know that's not really the problem. What you're really bothered by me is me voluntarily bottoming and loving it. The gay thing would be a lot easier for you if I was a hardcore top."

"Son…" Instead of lying, Dave apologetically said, "I'm sorry, I really don't want to seem like Bill Stokes, but try as I might to be open to the idea, it still turns my stomach when I think about what actually occurs between you and Nick. That doesn't mean I don't love you, it just means that I can't be enthusiastic about your love life like your mother can. I fully realize it's a double standard, because I could talk to you in great detail if you were banging babes instead of a boy. But that's the truth and I think it's more important to be honest with you than to be politically correct. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I don't want to be one of those in-your-face queers who make people feel bad for not being enthusiastic over gay sex. In your mind it's completely unnatural for two guys to be sexual, so I totally get why you don't want to think about it, especially about your son. Who wants to think about something grossly unappealing? I don't."

"Maybe I'm traumatized because I've had to hear too many details. There's always an anxious newbie at the PFLAG meetings asking sex questions. I think I know enough about the inner workings of a man's ass to open a Proctology practice."

"Why do they discuss the dirty details?"

"Taking the mystery out of gay life is supposed to help the concerned parents calm down. A lot of them come to the meetings very misinformed and scared. Your mother is a small group volunteer now and I sit there in support of her…and you technically, even though you're not there. They ask HIV questions first and then they start bringing up the safety and cleanliness of the various sexual activities you boys like to do. They're always worried about germ transfer and the long-term effects of having sex 'back there'. One poor grandmother was bawling her eyes out on your mother's shoulder because she was told her grandson would end up wearing diapers or needing a colostomy by the time he was 22 if he kept letting guys put it…"

"Back there?" Greg laughed, happy that they were maintaining some levity while treading cautiously.

"Jan gets them to say 'tush' by the end of the meeting. My favorite moment with your mother was when this arrogant father who had been forced to the meeting by his wife said he threw away his 17 year old son's stash of condoms and lube so he couldn't have sex anymore. Your mother jumped up and gave an Oscar worthy speech titled 'How stupid are you? Your kid will continue having sex behind your back, but now he doesn't have the things necessary to preserve his life and his asshole, **Asshole**!' It was showstopper, let me tell you."

Simultaneously proud and embarrassed by his mother, Greg said, "Jan, Jan, Jan. I always knew she'd be a PFLAG overachiever."

"All kidding aside, she's actually very good at helping people who are struggling. The Vegas chapter already wants her leading up some presentations." Grinning, Dave shared, "They like how she uses humor to put the scared family members at ease. Honestly, no one tells a better poop chute joke than your mom."

"And she wants me to attend a meeting with her? I don't think so. I'm sure I'd be the **butt **of every one of her jokes." Greg mocked her voice, "'Gregory loved having his little tushie powdered as a baby, so I just knew he would grow up gay' or 'Greg was such a Kiss-Ass as a child, it's hardly a surprise that he loves kissing real asses today'."

"She would be writing those down if she were here." Dave committed them to memory so he could tell his wife. "I think she wants you to dress nice and run through your pre-sex hygiene habits to debunk the myth that all gay men are filthy perverts."

"Sorry, even Nick isn't even privy to that information. I lock him out of the bathroom while I'm freshening up."

"Even now that he's wearing your ring?" Dave laughed, "You'll get less inhibited as time goes on, believe me. Married life gets very comfortable, maybe too comfortable. I stopped going to the bathroom to fart shortly after the honeymoon and it's been one big toenail clipping, gas producing downhill slide from there. But hey, at least you won't be asked to run out to the store for Maxi Pads in the middle of the night."

"That's definitely a perk. There may be a midnight run for hemorrhoid cream in our future though."

"Hey, I've done that myself, so no shame there."

"I've already made Gas-X pit stops on the way home from work for Cletus, but I knew he had wind issues from working side by side with him all these years. In our line of work, we're trained to ignore bad smells, so it's not a problem really. We've already declared everywhere but the kitchen a fart zone."

"You'd never get a woman to agree to that one."

"Another perk of gay marriage." Laughing with his father, Greg happily shared, "Even though we've only been together a short time, Nick's already used to my quirks and tells. He knows by the look on my face when I step out of the bathroom if he's not getting in my backdoor because…uh…"

"The planets aren't aligned?"

"Yeah, we'll go with that." Laughing with his father, Greg said, "Nick's the best, because he respects all of my germphobic OCD sex rules and doesn't make me feel like a freak for having them. I love that he knows my mouth doesn't travel south of the border when he comes home from work unless he's showered, no exceptions…and it better be a very hot and thorough shower if he expects me to include a visit 'back there'."

It took a second for Dave to figure out what his son meant and when he did, he cringed and dug for something positive to say. "It's um…it's good to know you're that you're practicing healthy habits, even though we never had a 'man to man' chat about sex, at least not beyond 'you better wear a condom every time or I'll kill you'. And it's good that Nick is respectful of your wishes."

"Yeah. He knows I've been laughed at in bed enough to last a lifetime, so he doesn't hassle me." To keep the bonding vibe going, Greg allowed himself to get a little more personal, "I've been totally honest with him and shared all my bedroom horror stories, like how the first and only time I was with a woman during a certain **period** of the month I flipped out because I glanced down and thought the girl was hemorrhaging because I was too rough."

"Aww, I guess that would be pretty freaky if you didn't know she had it and never had been with a woman who did." Feeling bad for not educating his son a little better, Dave said, "These are things I could have warned you about if I had ever taken the time to sit you down and talk. What did the girl do? It must have been awkward for her too."

"Not quite. While I was in the shower scrubbing my flesh raw, Mary was outside the curtain** laughing** at me. She made it sound like I was the only guy who ever had a problem with the scenario. Like I was some kind of freak for not wanting a threesome with her and Aunt Flo. She told me it always made her cramps feel better and couldn't believe I was being so uptight about it." He shivered at the memory. "I told her to use Motrin for her cramps next time, not my manhood, and that I don't like sex to remind me of the crime scenes I work. The date really went downhill from there."

"I'm guessing she told you to go to hell."

"Something slightly less polite actually." While his father laughed at him, Greg said, "I thought that was bad, but then this other chick I met at a club took me home to this really nice apartment and just when I thought things were going well in bed she giggled in my ear 'time to tinkle'."

"She wanted to the bathroom before having sex? What's so weird about that? Lots of…"

"Noooooooo. She wasn't leaving the bed, that was the **start** of the sex. She was into pee-pee foreplay, which really made me wonder what she liked to do for the main act. The rubber sheets on her bed should have been a clue, but I assumed her old dog had a bladder control problem or something."

"Eww!"

"Exactly what I said as I ran for the door!"

"No wonder you like men if those women were typical of the ones you dated after Lacey."

"It's ancient history." Greg smiled and said, "The point I was making is - everyone has things they don't want to think about people doing behind closed doors. I respect your limitations, Dad, because I know I don't want to be forced to think about Bloody Mary or Tinkle-Bell's habits on a regular basis."

"Then why do you keep making me feel bad when I cringe?"

"Because sometimes I'm an immature brat with Daddy issues." Being completely truthful, Greg said, "I have residual anger and I still like to find ways to piss you off and get some payback. When Mom brings up sex and I see you cringe, I know I can easily play on your guilty conscience and make you feel like a closed-minded jerk. Truthfully, I don't want or need you to be excited about my sex life. I just need you to stop being passive-aggressive and attacking Nick because you can't say what's really on your mind."

"And you'll promise not to make me feel bad anymore?"

"Deal. I know I'm lucky to have a father who loves me and is supportive of my relationship. You don't have to buy me sex toys for my honeymoon to prove you cool with 'the gay thing'."

"That would be redundant, because your mother already has."

"You're not even kidding, are you?"

"Unfortunately, no. She has these honeymoon bags for you and Nick that she plans on leaving in your bedroom one day when the girls aren't with her."

"She really is a freak."

"Yes, but a loveable freak." After a mutual laugh, Dave said, "I think the trick is for me to think about you and your relationship without my frame of reference."

"Which is?"

"If another man overpowered me, I'd feel humiliated, not turned on."

"I've loved getting overpowered by a hot jock since the first time we did wrestling in PE class." Through a grin, Greg recalled the exhilarating memory. "Shawn Westmore…the second his crotch landed in my face I knew I was Bi."

"See, I **dreaded** wrestling…rolling around with a sweaty guy barely wearing clothes, bumping parts for what seemed like an eternity, and then getting forcefully pinned down with him grunting on top of me."

"Sounds a lot like Nick and I when we get home after a long shift." Watching his father cringe, Greg stood laughing, "It's either there or it isn't, Dad…it's definitely not there for you."

"I suspected as much." Dave hugged his boy tight, happy they had made significant progress. "I'm glad we had this talk and I'm happy that Nick** finally** let you win one of the wrestling matches and let you pin him for a change."

"Finally win?" Greg sighed, "And here I thought we were making progress. You're still thinking in terms of the bottom being the loser's spot." Returning the embrace, he teased, "Poor Mom, by your definition, she's been a loser in love for decades, never enjoying sex. Sounds a lot like Hodges."

* * *

"This is so much better than my dream," Hodges sighed as he sat at the kitchen table across from Wendy and sopped up egg yolk with a perfectly toasted piece of wheat bread. 

The cook laughed as she picked up her juice, "You had a dream I made you bad eggs?"

"Something like that."

"Ugh, did we have sex in your dream?" She pushed away her plate. "Suddenly I've lost my appetite."

"You act like the thought of having sex with me is a turn off."

"I don't want to make you feel bad when you're hungover and feeling sorry for yourself, so I'll just say – no comment."

"So, you've thought about sex with me."

"No!"

"Well then how can you know it would be a turn off if you've not considered the possibility? You've thought about us having sex, admit it."

"I'm making coffee," she stated while leaving her chair.

_That's a yes._ "Coffee would be great, honey."

"Here's the cream." Wendy promptly spilled it over her co-worker's head.

While thick white liquid streamed down his face, Hodges asked, "Is this the prelude to some kinky sex game of yours?"

"Ugh." Stuffing her hands on her hips, she spat, "No, it's a hint that I'm not interested. Why can't you be satisfied that I took care of your ass when you were trashed?"

"Sorry." He switched to a sincere tone, "I'm just trying to be funny, but I should follow Jan Sanders's advice and not bother, because I'm not a funny guy." Wiping his face with his shirt, he said, "Do you mind if I use your shower before I go?"

* * *

"Look who's here, Cletus!" Greg yanked Cassie into the backyard with him. "And Cassie, guess who knocked on our door this morning?" He pointed to Judge Stokes sitting by the pool. "Nice job, Sis," he whispered while the girl stood there in shock. "Your letter worked. They've been talking for almost an hour." He backed away to let them have a semi-private reunion. 

As soon as Nick saw the girl who would forever own a part of his heart, he jumped out of his patio chair.

"Are you mad at me?" Cassie yelled when she saw him hurrying over.

"Am I mad at you?" Nick laughed at the ridiculous question. "No, honey, I'm not mad." Kneeling down, he pulled her into his arms. "I'm incredibly touched by what you said in the letter and the essay."

"Am I debt-free?" she asked, tears filling her eyes.

"He brushed her hair from her eyes, so she could see his gratitude. "You've always been debt-free, Sweetie, because savin' you helped me in a way I can't explain even to myself. I was kinda lost until I started lookin' for you and when I found you I got a part of me back. It's complicated I know." Her tears starting his, he choked up. "I consider the letter a selfless act of incredible kindness that has made me feel blessed beyond words. Anything you felt you owed me, is paid current and then some."

"Okay," Cassie answered as she wiped her savior's tears.

"Heck, I feel so grateful to you after readin' that letter, I'll be shoppin' for an extra special birthday gift for you."

Greg made an immediate suggestion, "Ask for that horse you've always dreamed of! I know that look on his face, he'll say yes to anything when he looks like that."

Once the reunion's crescendo was over, Judge Stokes walked over to see the girl who was wise beyond her years. "Howdy, Miss McBride. I wanted to tell you personally that I was very moved by your letter. You are very eloquent for your age and an incredible researcher."

"She wants to be a CSI one day," Nick proudly stated. "With her brain, her adoptive parents support, and two big brothers in the business, I don't foresee it bein' a problem."

Greg nodded. "She can take over the place when we retire to Maui."

* * *

Strolling out of Wendy's bathroom wearing her terrycloth robe, Hodges asked, "How does Hawaii sound for a honeymoon destination?" 

"Perfect," she cooed before narrowing her eyes, "I'll send you a postcard when I'm there with my husband."

"Good one, Simms." He tumbled further in love. "You're very cute when you're sarcastic."

Before she could retort, her doorbell rang. "Ugh, these Jehovah Witnesses show up every weekend like clockwork since I politely took one of their pamphlets."

Grabbing the collar of the fluffy pink robe, Hodges said, "Would you like the man of the house to take care of this?"

"Go change!" She marched to the door. "And I don't just mean your clothes. Change your personality too!" When she opened the door and saw Mandy holding hands with Henry and glowing, she screamed, "NOOOOO!"

"I thought you would be happy to see us back together?" Mandy said in confusion. "I don't get…"

"Gooooooood Morning!" Hodges greeted his co-workers in a sunny tone. "Are you as happy as I am this morning?"

Since their jaws were on the ground, Mandy and Henry couldn't answer.

Smiling at Wendy, Hodges asked, "Should we invite them in for coffee, honey?" The death glare he received in return left him rattled. "I'll go get dressed."

"This is sooooooo not what it looks like," Wendy assured her friends. "He was drunk and depressed last night leaving the party. I was afraid to let him be alone. He spilled cream on his clothes, so…this is totally sounding like some crazy sitcom cliché speech to cover up us sleeping together, isn't it?"

"Yes," the happy couple robotically replied.

"I'll have to resort to DNA proof then. Swab any part of me! I'm Hodges free!"

"We believe you. Really."

"I can tell you don't." When they started to back away, she pleaded, "I swear I didn't sleep with him!"

"We just wanted to say thanks." Mandy waved as she darted away with her boyfriend. "Carry on!"

"There's nothing to carry on!" They were already in their car, so it was pointless. "Dammit!" After slamming the door, she made a beeline down the hall. "You're a dead man, Davy!" She threw open the bathroom door. "Get your ass..."

Bent over naked, Hodges asked, "What about my ass?"

* * *

"It's so sweet," Jan gushed while watching Cassie wipe Nick's tears. "And look…Jenni's sniffling in Greg's arms too." Observing the emotional scene through the family room window, she blurted, "Cassie is Cindy Lou Who!" 

"What?

"Cindy Lou Who! She made the crusty old heartless Grinch realize that Christmas would go on no matter what he took away from the people of Whoville, because the spirit of Christmas lived inside the Whos, not in the trees, ornaments and gifts. Don't you see…Cassie got the Grinch to realize that Nick would be gay no matter what happened, because his homosexuality was a part of him, not something that could be taken away. She got through to the meanie and now his heart is growing. Just watch, he'll be carving Roast Beast at our holiday table and fitting in just fine."

"Aww, that's very cute," Dave laughed, "but I have a more realistic version about what just happened."

"Which is?"

"The asshole realized he'd be microwaving frozen entrees and sleeping alone for the rest of his life, so he flew out here and said whatever he needed to say to get his wife back in his kitchen and his bed."

"Oh, stop."

"You think I'm wrong?" Dave laughed harder. "Look at all the crap I put up with just to keep getting your professional quality blow jobs all these years, Hot Lips. Men are simple creatures and easily controlled."

Knowing her husband only teased her when he wasn't stressed, Jan was certain he had truly worked through things with Greg.

"Aww, you didn't think it was your Tuna Casserole keeping me around, did you?" He winked. "Not that it isn't fantastic."

"Okay, smart ass." She rolled her eyes. "I suppose it's not a stretch to believe you think of your stomach and wiener 24/7."

"I'm a man, sweetheart, that's how we're programmed."

"Thankfully Gregory takes after me and is a deep, sentimental thinker…Nicky too. I just love my overly sensitive gay boys."

"If you believe those two aren't obsessed with their wieners, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you real cheap."

"Only because they're in the engagement and pre-wedding phase. Once they've been together a while, they'll chill out and value long sentimental discussions too."

"MmmHmm."

Jan winked, "As someone who used to be obsessed with bagging her stud, I can assure you that the thrill passes…quickly."

"Oh please, you've never gotten over the thrill of bagging me."

"Who said I was talking about you?"

"That's it." Dave yanked his feisty wife into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips that he was certain would remind her why she loved him.

"Mmm." Smacking her lips, Jan gazed into her husband's eyes. "You've still got it, baby."

"Thank you, sweetheart." He returned for another smooch. "All kidding aside, I really hope that Greg has inherited your oral talents, because then we'll never have to worry about Nick leaving him for greener pastures and breaking his heart."

"I can't believe you're that comfortable talking about your son pleasuring another man."

"Yeah, well…" Dave pointed out the window. "Every time I'm around that intolerant jerk, I overcompensate and end up a little more comfortable with my gay son's sex life."

"Well, at least we know the crusty coot is good for something."

Glancing over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone, Dave said, "Hearing about Nick letting our son have a turn in the driver's seat helped a lot too."

The surprised mother asked, "Did Greg give you details when you two were holed up in the office?"

"Just that he was exaggerating for shock value and really wasn't an animal with Nick. He said it was actually all very sweet."

Jan couldn't resist teasing her man, "It may have started out that way, but if you believe that it was all sweet, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you real cheap. The things I heard traveling through the air vent had me blushing…but not for the reason you think."

"Huh?"

She whispered, "Greg was saying some of the **exact **same lines you say to me in the heat of passion."

"I knew we should have moved his bedroom downstairs a lot sooner than we did. Good thing the new house has a split floor plan."

"To be honest, I get a little more unnerved every time I think about it." The concerned mother said, "It's a little too Hamlet for my liking."

Dave burst out laughing, "You think he's saying my lines because he subconsciously wants to give it you?"

"I'm sure that would be Freud's take," she replied with concern.

"Well, Freud never had the privilege of meeting our sweet, geeky son, honey. Greg copied my lines, because he's inexperienced in the driver's seat, and when he's nervous he subconsciously draws upon the words of a master."

* * *

"Your love stud is leaving!" Hodges shouted from the open front door. "Aren't you going to say goodbye, Simms?!" 

From the kitchen Wendy cheerily replied, "Sorry, I'm too busy opening the bottle of champagne I'll be drinking in celebration of your long overdue departure!"

"You really can't stop flirting with me, can you?" He ducked just in time to miss the spatula flying towards his head. "See you at work!"

"Not if I see you first!" she yelled just as her front door shut. "Thank god." Glancing around her apartment she confirmed she was alone again. "Much better." Taking a seat on her couch, she grabbed the remote from between the cushions. "He never stops talking," she muttered while flipping through channels. "He's** so** irritating." She settled back to watch a movie she had already seen five times. "Beyond irritating." Tossing the remote on the empty space next to her, she realized something terrifying. "I miss him." Her hand raced to her mouth as she considered the unfathomable possibility. "Am I** that** lonely?" After five solid minutes of contemplation, she jumped to her feet, ready to fix the problem. "I wonder what time the dog pound opens?"

* * *

"I guess old dogs can learn new tricks after all," Jillian Stokes remarked to her daughters when she saw her husband in the backyard with her son. "Now they're tossin' a football with Cassie, Roy and Greg while Skye and Jenni watch." 

"I still can't believe Daddy came here." Nancy had been in dazed since they walked in and found him in the living room.

"I know." Gwen had never seen her father yield so quickly and completely. "He didn't wanna lose you, Mama. Your plan worked."

"I hope he's here at least partly because he wants Nicky in his life too." Jillian knew it was wishful thikning. "I'd hate to think he was fakin' it all for me."

"Brunch is served!" Jan cheerily yelled as she rushed through the back door to retrieve the basket of condiments she had prepared to take out on the patio. "Get it while it's hot, ladies."

Since everyone was hungry, they hurried out to the patio without exchanging a word.

"Here you go, Mama." Nick pulled out a chair for her at the long table they had made by pushing several tables together. "Looks just like Sunday brunch back at the ranch, doesn't it?"

"Exactly what I was thinkin', honey." She kissed her son's cheek.

"I **love **family traditions." Thrilled that things were going so well for his partner, Greg began overtalking, "My grandparents brought all their Norwegian customs with them from Norway. Well, duh, where else would Norwegian customs come from, right? We're going to combine family holiday customs. Nick's told me everything you guys do and I've told him the things my family does. I can't wait for Christmas," he excitedly said while ripping apart a biscuit. "Christmas is hands down my favorite holiday…making cookies, exchanging gifts, the music, the decorations, the classic cartoons." After singing a few lines of I'm Mister Heatmiser, he said, "Yeah, I love everything about Christmas."

"What about Christ?" Judge Stokes announced while staring at his son's hyper boyfriend, "I didn't hear you mention him. He's kind of a big part of it for us. I bring Him up, because it's customary in our family to offer up a prayer of thanks before eatin' anything."

"Sorry," Greg replied while swallowing a hunk of biscuit. "Nana and Papa Olaf didn't bring any prayer back from Norway…uh…and that was so not a funny joke." He anxiously glanced around. "Who's up for leading a prayer of thanks?"

"You're our host, Greg," Bill smiled as he reached out for his neighbor's hands. "You should do the honors."

"Uh…"

Dave and Jan panicked, knowing their son had never led a prayer in his life.

"I'll do it!" Nick, Jenni, Cassie, Gwen, Nancy, and Roy all offered when they saw fear building in Greg's eyes.

Coming to the rescue of his unchurched partner, Nick winked, "I'd love to lead it if you don't mind, honey."

"Not at all." Following the Stokes lead, Greg held hands with his neighbors; Jenni and his mother.

Lowering his head, Nick solemnly began, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful day and for bringing together the Stokes and Sanders family members gathered around this table. We humbly ask you to bless us and this wonderful meal we are lucky enough to have before us when there are people around the world fighting for a crumb to share. As we break bread together, please help us to choose kind words that will help us respect each other and grow together as one family under God, striving for peace and harmony with each other while living in a world that's sadly full of hate and intolerance. Please bless us and this food which will nourish us, so that we may live another day to serve You and love one another. In Jesus Christ's name, we pray…Amen."

"Amen," everyone replied, except Greg, who was sitting at the table certain he would burn in hell, because he had been totally turned on by Nick praying. _What's wrong with me?!_ The deep, soulful cadence of his lover's voice, the thoughtful words of wisdom, and the taboo nature of lusting after a holy man had his Levis bursting at the seams. _He even looks twice as hot._ Suddenly he had a lot of empathy for Meggie Cleary's plight in The Thorn Birds.

"That was lovely, Nicky,." Jillian praised her son.

"Thanks, Mama."

"Greg," Jan patted her son's hand and whispered, "could you run in and grab the hot sauce? I forgot to bring it out and I know the Texans love that stuff on their eggs."

"Uh."

"I gave birth to you, Dear," she whispered through gritted teeth, "so you can go get me hot sauce."

"Uh."

"Go! Before their eggs get cold."

"Be right back." After untucking his shirt, Greg scurried into the house like the rat he felt he was.

"Sorry," Jan announced when her cell phone rang and startled everyone. Jumping up, she grabbed it from her pocket. "I'm a PFLAG hotline volunteer this weekend. If you'll excuse me for a moment." Holding the phone to her ear she walked to the pool area to chat in private. "Jan Sanders, proud PFLAG Mom, how can I help you?"

Judge Stokes forced his eyes not to roll.

"What was wrong with Greg?" Dave blurted in Nick's direction. "He looked upset."

"I bet his shoulder is killin' him," Nick huffed.

"I think you're right." Cassie nodded as she scooped fruit onto her plate. "I saw him grabbing it when we were playing."

"I'm gonna strangle him senseless one of these days." When Nick saw Dave glance over, he anxiously laughed, "That was just a joke, Sir…because he won't listen to me about his..."

"I know it was. You're fine."

Tossing his napkin on the table, the worried fiancé stood. "I warned him not to play ball with us while he's still in physical therapy, but does he listen…nooooooo. I'll be right back." _He's probably in there poppin' three Vicodin._ "I'll make him an ice pack."

Shortly after Nick left the table, the door bell rang.

"I wonder who that is?" Dave remarked.

"I'll get it!" Roy scrambled out of his seat. "Y'all enjoy your food while it's hot."

Gwen laughed as the numbers dwindled. "If another one of you leaves, I'm gonna think I smell bad."

"I think you smell pretty," Cassie confirmed since she was sitting next to the woman. Leaning in she whispered, "Between you and me…I think Nick and Greg ran off to kiss. They're really in love and they're not allowed to kiss in front of your mom."

* * *

"We can't! Not here!" Bobby Dawson protested in a whisper when Roy lunged for him in the entryway. "Nick will kill me if he sees me with you." They had met at the party the previous night, had spent hours talking, playfully kissing and tantalizing each other's bodies just short of having sex. "The plan was I come to get my jacket and Nick invites me to stay for brunch." 

"Slight change of plans." Roy led the way to the office, his shiny blond hair bouncing as his eyes danced. "In here."

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Doubting that Nick would approve of him dating his nephew who was only 20 and therefore 16 years his junior, Bobby fretted, "We can't…"

"Just a kiss."

"No."

"Just one." Roy used his professional flirtation skills to get what he wanted. "I missed you."

"Nick will kill me if he comes in here and finds me with you."

"He won't come in, he was running upstairs after Greg."

* * *

"What are you up to, G?!" Nick yelled as he rushed into the master bathroom. "Are you sneakin'…" 

"Ever heard of knocking?!" Caught with his pants down in the small toilet room, Greg turned his back and snapped, "I'm peeing. Give me a little privacy."

"Uh, no…" Nick stopped him from shutting the door. "You're jerkin' off."

"No, I'm peeing."

"You think I don't know the difference between peein' and jerkin' off? I've been doing one for 35 years and the other for 23."

"Okay, fine, I'm jerking off." Greg lowered his head. "Just give me two minutes."

Nick stuffed his hands on his hips. "Care to tell me why you're leavin' the table in the middle of brunch with my family to jerk off?"

"I left the table because my mother asked me to get hot sauce, the jerking off is a side trip." Greg groveled, "Can we discuss my motivations later, please? If we're both gone my dad is going to think we snuck away to fool around and get pissed."

Still baffled, Nick said, "Why did gettin' hot sauce turn you on?"

"It didn't!" Greg whirled around. "If you must know, I got turned on listening to you pray and then my mother asked me to get hot sauce, so I ran into the house, trying to kill two birds with one stone – getting rid of my boner and grabbing the hot sauce on the way out. I'd already be back at the table if you hadn't come in here and..."

"You got turned on listenin' to me pray?" Nick gaped at his lover.

"I'm going to hell, aren't I?" Greg whimpered, "Not that I actually believe in hell, but on the off chance it does exist, getting turned on while you pray earns me a one way ticket, right? What does the rule book say?"

Nick broke into an uncontainable smile, "You're really cute when you're sportin' wood and worryin' about eternal damnation."

"Yeah?" Enchanted by Nick's roguish smile, Greg's worries melted away. "You really think I look cute?" "

"Yeah," Nick confirmed as he moved to stand behind his partner. "I do." Sliding his hands forward, he purred, "Mmm…I can't wait to say I do with you, baby."

"But I'm a terrible sinning person. Why would you want to marry me?"

"Honey, you got turned on because I was prayin' to keep you safe." In between gentle strokes, Nick murmured, "You always get turned on when I get protective. You love when I take care of you."

"Oh, yeah. That makes me feel much better…mmm… so does that," Greg whimpered, "but you really shouldn't be…don't stop." Closing his eyes, he leaned back and pulled oxygen through his nose. "That's so good. I mean wrong…this is so wrong."

"Why?" Nick let his hot breath linger on his lover's neck while he feverishly worked to finish what had been started without him. "Because we have family downstairs?"

"We really need to address this sex addiction problem we have…but not right now." His knees growing weak, Greg reached out and braced himself for the finale. "So good."

"It's good for me too, baby," Nick lingered wet kisses over his partner's neck and enjoyed the erratic breathing and random noises echoing of the walls. "Especially with my father right downstairs…you know the guy who's sayin' he's here for me, but really just wants to keep his wife, so he's bullshittin' and puttin' on a good show while callin' Chuck on the sly and double-talkin'."

"You're doing this because you hate your daddy?"

"Yeah." After dropping to his knees, Nick glanced up and innocently asked the panting man before him, "Does that make me bad?"

"Definitely." Threading his fingers through his lover's hair, Greg knew their behavior was wrong for at least a dozen reasons, but it only made things hotter. "Hurry up, before your daddy comes looking for you and finds you on your knees in front of your fag boyfriend."

Nick worked open his jeans with his free hand and hoped Greg would keep talking.

* * *

"Sorry, she had a lot to say." Returning to her seat, Jan lamented, "That poor PFLAG mom, she's so brainwashed to think that all gay boys have one track minds that she can't even believe her son when he says he's innocently going out. She called crying because she checked up on him and he caught her spying. He really was alone at the library doing research like he said he would be. The breech of trust couldn't have come at a worse time." 

"Is there any hot sauce?" Jenni asked, always loving it on her eggs.

"I told Greg to get it. He's not back yet?"

"He hurt his shoulder," Cassie said, covering for her brothers. "Nick went to make him an ice pack."

Just as Jan was about to march into the house and bust her son for fooling around, she saw Nick open the back door for Greg who was walking out of the house with an ice pack on his shoulder and a bottle of hot sauce in his hand.

"Sorry it took so long, Mom. Nick insisted on taking care of me." Smiling at Judge Stokes, Greg said, "I'm so lucky to have your son around to help me out."

Loving his future spouse just a little more, Nick returned to his seat smirking. "Thanks, G."

Greg gingerly sat down, pretending to nurse a sore shoulder. "Was someone at the door? I thought I heard the doorbell when we were heading upstairs to find the ice pack wrap for my shoulder."

"Roy went to answer it," Gwen glanced down at her watch to see how long it had been, "It's been at least five minutes, maybe we should…wait, here he comes now." She pointed to the door. "Isn't that one of your co-workers from the party, Nicky?"

"Bobby D!" Still buzzing from the shared ecstasy, Nick stood and waved at his buddy. "What brings you by?"

"I'm so sorry about interrupting your brunch," Bobby stepped onto the patio as Roy returned to the table. "I left my jacket here last night." He held it up. "I found it." _Because it was right where we hid it last night, so I'd have an excuse to come by today._ They knew southern hospitality would dictate an invitation be extended.

"Join us for brunch, man." Nick hurried to grab an extra chair from the lawn. "There's plenty."

"Oh, I don't think I should intrude on…"

"Would you just say yes and get over here!" Jan yelled as she lifted an empty plate. "I made the food and I insist you eat some."

"If you insist, ma'am."

Nick told his Texas family, "He's an Oakie, but I don't hold it against him, because he's been good a co-worker and friend."

Sweat beading on his forehead, Bobby took a seat next to Roy, who had taken the extra chair from Nick and placed it next to him. "Thank you. It's Roy, right?"

"Right." Watching Nick smile at him, Bobby imagined a slow, painful death.

* * *

"He probably didn't know what hit him," Doc reported as he stood at the autopsy table staring at the latest victim's body with his coworkers. "One kill shot to the head." 

"Okay." Staring at the bullet hole, Sara asked, "So the question is…who wanted Mike Rodgers dead?"

* * *

**ANs:**

Sorry this one was so delayed, but the week was even more hectic than I thought, that's why I'm posting at 2am. A big thanks to KJT for editing as I wrote!

Thanks for you comments on the last chapter! I wanted the characters to be making some progress while having some issues old and new. Some new things are being set up as some loose ends are tied up. I hope it was a good read, thank you for waiting for it.

I tried to work in a lot of little layered moments of human imperfection LOL like Jan chiding the new PFLAG mom for believing the stereotype that all gay boys have a one track mind for sex only to assume a minute later that Greg and Nick snuck off to fool around even though Cassie assured her it was about Greg's shoulder...only to see a minute later that Greg's shoulder was really hurt and she jumped to the wrong conclusion...except she really was right, but she doesn't know that. Or how Nick's prayer was very sincere and totally manipulative at the same time.

Some foreshadowing in this one too!

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on the chapter,

Maggs


	21. Chapter 21:The Politics of Dating and

**AN: Just a quick note of thanks! **I've been writing and posting while having a lot of stuff going on in real life and the chapters haven't been as consistent or balanced as I would have liked. I also haven't been able to reply very often either and that makes some people feel like I don't care about what they have to say, but I wanted to say that's most definitely not true.

Some readers have expressed their disappointment because I've not been able to spend enough time on certain elements or characters or that I've spent too much time on certain things at the expense of others. I truly wish I had double the time, believe me, because there is so much more I want to write. Some have told me that they have stopped reading and I appreciate their honesty and for sharing their reasons. Others have stopped leaving comments and I can only assume they've stopped reading or are (hopefully) just too swamped with real life to comment.

I know everyone is very busy, so I just wanted to say I appreciate all of you who are still here, still giving my story some time, and a special thanks to anyone sending feedback to motivate me and let me know they're still reading**. I really appreciate all of you and will continue to try my best to turn out enjoyable chapters in a reasonable amount of time. Thanks so much: ) **

**The Day Before You**

**Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 21: The Politics of Dating and Marriage – Part 1**

"Good morning, Mrs. Grissom." Placing a snack tray on the bed over his wife's legs, Gil smiled and leaned in for a kiss. "Toast and juice just the way you like them. It's day four and the honeymoon may be technically over, but personally I'm still feeling the vibe."

"The vibe, Gilbert?" Sara snatched a piece of toast. "Is that what you're calling the bulge these days?"

Feigning offense, he copped his most professorial tone and replied, "Vibe, as in 'an emotional aura instinctively sensed or experienced'."

"I stand corrected." She rapidly chomped toast in between sentences. "So this isn't a booty call then."

"A booty call, Sara?"

Mocking her husband's snooty intellectual tone, she said, "Booty call, as in 'a seemingly innocent visit made by a sly horny person who is really only looking to get laid, but doesn't want to directly ask for sex, because he's too cool to ask for it'."

Gil smoothly retorted, "I can safely say that I've never been referred to or thought of as 'too cool' in my life, therefore my behavior doesn't match your booty call definition."

"So you don't want to have sex before heading into work for 14 hours?"

"I never said **that**," he laughed. "Hell yes, I want to make love with my wife before going to work. I consider it one of the top five perks of marriage. So finish that second piece of toast, gulp your OJ, and get naked, sweetheart." With a wink he added, "That _vibe_ I mentioned earlier is growing stronger by the minute."

Upon seeing her naked husband fling his navy blue bathrobe, Sara snickered into her juice glass, "Looks like someone ate their Wheaties this morning."

Slipping under the covers, Gil purred, "Good morning, Mrs. Grissom."

"You love calling me that, don't you?"

"Yes," he replied, believing his one word answer spoke volumes.

Enjoying the anticipation in her lover's eyes, Sara moved the breakfast tray to the floor and tossed the Williams t-shirt that she had swiped from Gil to use as a nightshirt. "Good morning," she belatedly replied while cozying up to the warm body sharing her bed and her life. "Are you worried about your meeting with Ecklie?"

"Yes and no." Sweeping a lock of hair off his wife's face, he tried to remain optimistic. "Things are going really well for the team and he won't want to rock the boat. I think he'll support us in finding a way around the department policies or changing them." Bringing his lips to hers, Gil whispered, "Let's put worrying on the backburner for the next hour."

"Hour?" She teased, "Wow, either you consumed more than Wheaties or you really are in an optimistic mood."

* * *

"I can't. No. Please don't make me." Greg pulled the bedding over his head. "I think I just fell asleep ten minutes ago." 

"If you stay under there, you'll miss out on the treat I have for you." Nick taunted, "I made a pot of Blue Hawaiian from the bag Doc bought you for your birthday."

When Greg smelled the distinct aroma of his favorite gourmet coffee, he peered out from under the comforter with bleary eyes.

"Mornin', Sunshine." Nick dangled the mug above his partner. "Night actually. It's ten pm and you need to get your cute little ass out of bed before I leave, because if you don't, I know you'll sleep through the alarm and miss work."

"Seriously, I'm beat. Tell Grissom I'm sick."

"If you don't sit up, I'm dumpin' this liquid gold down the drain."

"You wouldn't dare." The java aficionado shot daggers at his partner.

"Try me."

"The things I do for love…of my coffee." Greg reluctantly pushed himself upright and sat against the headboard. "Happy?"

Handing over the mug, Nick scolded, "You should have come to bed when I asked you instead of workin' on the book all day."

"I only planned on putting in an hour, but it turned into eight."

"By now you should know that you can't stop after an hour." Nick took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Admit it, you have a problem."

"My name is Greg Sanders and I'm addicted to three things: my book, great coffee..." He carefully sipped the steaming liquid before finishing his statement. "…and the cowboy who loves me."

"From the amount of time you spent drinkin' coffee and workin' on your book during the last 24 hours of your birthday weekend, I think that list was said in order of importance."

"No, I was saving the best for last." Greg leaned in for a kiss, but when he didn't get one he said, "I swished, so I don't have morning breath."

"That's not it."

"Cletus, come on…you're not really jealous of my book and love of java, are you? I'm wearing your ring, not theirs."

"I just need to get to work."

"Your meeting's not for an hour, that's plenty of time, unless you want to do something complicated like use that trapeze my mother bought me for my birthday." Tossing back the covers, Greg padded to the bathroom. "I bet it takes a while to put that contraption together. Maybe you could start building it while I freshen up."

"Is** that** what's in that big box Roy told me she dropped off while I was sleepin'? He told me you said you wanted to wait and open it with me." Nick cringed at the thought of his future mother-in-law shopping for a sex trapeze and telling the sales clerk it was for her son and his lover. "She needs to stop jokin' around with this stuff, G. I don't want Cassie findin' somethin' like that, the kid already told me she's worried about growin' up, I don't want her to see the picture on the trapeze box and worry that'll she'll have to…"

"Gotcha!" Greg yelled from the bathroom. "Jan saw how excited I was over making Christmas cookies with you, so she ran out and bought us a professional-grade Kitchen-Aid mixer. I'm psyched! I can't wait for you to taste Nana Olaf's Scandinavian Almond bars."

"You really had me going."

"Have you ever used a trapeze with the laaaadies?"

"Can't say that I did, no."

"Me either, but no surprise there." Grinning, Greg slid onto the bed. "I've heard that zero-gravity loving can be exhilarating, if you don't throw your back out in the process. Maybe we should ask Santa to buy us a trapeze…or Catherine. I still can't believe she got me a 'Boy Love Party Basket' for my birthday." Lifting his mug, he sipped Blue Hawaiian and mused, "I was even more shocked that Warrick signed the card."

"'Rick told me he signed the card thinkin' they got you a Rat Pack CD Box set. When he saw that basket he wanted to rip up the card, but Cath hid it from him."

"Obviously she didn't stuff it down her blouse or pants, because he would have found it there. She probably put it in her purse because you know he wouldn't be caught dead holding a handbag."

"Very true. You shoulda heard him - 'Stokes, when we're changin' in the locker room, I don't want to see evidence of your little love buddy usin' those 'Color Me Sexy Crayons' on your body'."

"Ha! I'm **so **going to write 'I heart this' on your lower back with an arrow pointing south." Lunging for the basket, which he had on the floor next to the bed, Greg imagined the scene.

"G…" Watching his suddenly hyper partner dump the contents of the gift basket on the bed, Nick's tension suddenly returned. "I'm goin' in early to meet with Grissom and Ecklie, remember?" Although he had extra time, he planned on using it to catch up on paperwork. "We don't have time to fool around."

Opening the pack of body crayons, Greg said, "Don't make me start worrying about what Ecklie will say tonight. I don't want to get tense again." He had been fretting about the department policy on married co-workers since Brass casually mentioned it to him and Sara at the party. "You never answered me though - what are we going to do if Ecklie says we can't work together in the lab? Or at least not the same job or shift."

"You heard what my lawyer sister said - the way the policy is written, it doesn't apply to couples who aren't legally married. It's probably the only time not bein' able to do things on paper will work in our favor."

"True."

"C'mere." Nick reached forward to slip his hand around the back of his partner's neck. "One kiss, then I'm headin' out." When he saw Greg put his coffee mug on the nightstand, he shook his head. "Why did you put that down for one kiss? I'm serious, G, **one kiss**, that's it."

"Exactly." Greg lurched forward, tackling him onto the rumpled bedding. "If I'm only getting one kiss, I'm using both arms and really throwin' myself into it."

"Watch the shirt, man! I'll have to change if it gets wrinkled."

Perched on his whiny lover's hips, Greg sighed, "Aren't you a little young to be a grumpy old man?"

"Cut me some slack, I'm tense about goin' public tonight. You're not the one walkin' into Ecklie's office and…"

"Hey! You're only talking to him because we **agreed **that Ecklie likes you better than me and has a lot of respect for you since you survived the coffin drama."

"Sorry." Nick vigorously rubbed his hands over his face and shook off his irritation. "I didn't mean to make it sound like you refused. It's just now that the moment of truth is right around the corner…"

"Are you regretting the decision to wear the rings in public and come out to people other than our friends?"

"No, that's not it at all." Taking his partner's right hand, Nick brushed a kiss over the ring. "Our friends are cool with us bein' a couple, but I know it's not gonna be like that with everyone else. That's what has me tense."

"If ten percent of the population is gay, then ten percent of LVPD is gay, so we know at least ten percent of our co-workers shouldn't hassle us."

"I just don't want everything to change overnight for us after workin' so hard all these years. I don't want us to be 'the gay CSIs' and have people suddenly acting differently. We know we're outing ourselves because it's exhausting to cover our tracks, watch what we say, and lie to people's faces all time, but people might think we're doin' it because we want to start a gay pride movement at LVPD. I don't want it to be a big deal like it's been within my family."

"I understand what you're saying, but I don't think it's realistic. The water cooler crowd is about to hit the jackpot. We're not talking about something that happens all the time, like Catherine getting a new boyfriend. People have always wondered about my sexuality, but you're the red-blooded Texan with a reputation for falling into bed with pretty girls. Greg Sanders being gay is a blurb in the back of the Entertainment section, but Nick Stokes being gay is front page news. Gossip this huge only comes along once in a decade."

Dreading every second of attention, Nick grumbled, "All I want is the same thing that everyone else already has. I want to be able to hang pictures of my family in my locker and feel comfortable answering truthfully about them when asked. I want to quietly be the real me, that's it."

"And maybe that will be possible after the initial shock dies down, but as Jan Sanders, Proud PFLAG Mom would say, when you're a pioneer you should expect a little suffering, because it's the price for branching out into new territory and making a place for yourself."

"Logically I know y'all are right, I just want you to be wrong."

Sliding onto his side, so they were face to face, Greg said, "At least the cops respect you. Me, I'm the pansy who got his ass kicked. That 'Deliverance' moment with Vartann still has me freaked too. Not only do I have to worry about being harassed for being gayI have to worry there are closeted cops with guns who suddenly believe my ass is ripe for the taking."

Trying to ease his partner's fears, Nick said, "If you were comin' out alone, yeah, but everyone is gonna know that we're together and most of the cops are gonna understand it will be a huge mistake to give you any shit with me as your partner. Look what happened when I talked to Vartann, right? He's gone out of his way to be nice to you since I had that little chat with him. We just need to stay calm."

"Uh, Mr. Calm, are you referring to the chat where you threatened to slice off Vartann's balls if he even looked at me funny?"

"Okay, yeah, bad example."

"Careful," Greg warned as they embraced. "I wouldn't want your perfectly pressed shirt to get wrinkled."

"I can change it." After a tender kiss, Nick stroked his fiancé's cheek with his thumb and whispered, "Sorry for bein' so crabby."

"You were only crabby because I chose my book over you after you went out of your way to make my birthday special." Feeling guilty, Greg whispered, "I was having an Only Child Personal Space Crisis after so many people were in and out of the house. That was a lot of togetherness and even though I'm nuts about you, sometimes if I don't get a breather, I start feeling a little nutty."

Their bodies pressed together, the tension about the night ahead started melting away.

"Next time just tell me you're having' an OCPSC moment instead of using the book as an excuse to avoid me."

"Okay, now promise me something. No matter how brutal things get at work, we won't let the tension drive us apart. I can handle anything they throw at me, as long as I don't lose you."

"Honey, as far as I'm concerned, the ceremony in July is just a formality. For better or worse, you're stuck with me." After a slow, sensual kiss that ignited his body, Nick laughed at himself. "You got more than one kiss out of me."

Greg's thousand-watt smile lit the room. "Yeah." Bumping their noses together, he warned, "You should go."

"One more for the road."

"Just one?"

"Yeah." Nick sincerely tried to say goodbye in between the passionate kisses he kept initiating. "I love you…mmm…I'll see ya at work…maybe call when you're on your way…I'll call you if I have Ecklie news...or if I have no news, I'll…"

"If you're going, go!" Greg willed himself to stop returning his lover's kiss.

"Okay." When his partner pushed him away with two hands, Nick stood and wiped his wet lips. "Is my shirt wrinkled?"

"Yeah, you should take it off."

Before his shirt hit the ground, Nick was on the bed removing Greg's moose boxers. "Before we go to work and complicate our lives tonight, I thought it would be nice to remind each other of why they're worth complicatin' in the first place."

"You read my mind." Crashing back onto the pile of supplies he had dumped from the gift basket, Greg burst out laughing, "How convenient, a bottle of lube just popped open underneath me, we're good to go."

"No way." Upon inspection, Nick reported, "Actually, it's a tube of liquid candy gel."

"So if some macho cop calls me a Candy Ass today, he'll actually be right. Who am I kidding, he'd be right even without me having a sugar coated butt."

"Cherry flavor."

Glancing over his shoulder, Greg asked with a hopeful lilt, "And you discovered that by…"

"Readin' the label."

"How truly disappointing."

"Sorry, honey." Nick shook his head. "You know I don't eat…sugary candy."

Still peering over his shoulder, Greg joked, "You're all set to kiss Ecklie's ass tonight, but you **still **won't kiss mine."

"Oh!" Nick crashed against the covers and cringe-laughed. "Don't even joke about Ecklie that way."

"You should bring the Boy Party basket with you. You know - just in case you need to do something drastic to keep our jobs."

"Stop."

"Good thing you got a little bottoming practice in before the meeting."

"You had to plant that visual in my head." Nick wondered if it was possible to blind his mind's eye. "As if I wasn't scared enough about tonight."

* * *

"Have no fear, little lady!" When Hodges saw the woman of his sweetest dreams and wildest fantasies parking her car he waited for her in the middle of the LVPD lot. "I'll be happy to escort you into the building tonight and keep you safe." 

"How?" Wendy grumbled "You're the person I feared bumping into the most."

"You're not still mad at me for greeting Henry and Mandy in your bathrobe, are you?" When he saw her glaring at him, he knew the answer was yes and he changed the subject. "I brought Krispy Kremes." He held up a shopping bag.

"What's the occasion?"

"Nick and Greg are coming out tonight." Hurrying to keep up with her, Hodges said, "I thought sharing a sweet treat with a few friends would counteract any bitterness they were getting from outsiders."

Wendy stopped in her tracks.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. That sounded really thoughtful and I was surprised to hear it coming from your mouth."

"Oh." Hodges stood a little taller. "It's part of my new personality."

"Did you get that idea from watching a Brady Bunch repeat, Mister TV Land?" She resumed walking. "Suddenly I want porkchops and applesauce for dinner." In Bogart's voice she added, "Isn't that swell?"

"Episode 55! The Personality Kid, first aired October 22nd 1971. Peter thinks his personality is dull so he tries a few others on for size."

"That's um…"

"Impressive?"

"Scary," Wendy laughed, "but in a harmless way."

"Not any scarier than a jock rattling off batting averages from 1984."

"That scares me too."

"For a woman who used to be in horror flicks, you scare very easily, Simms." When his co-worker laughed, Hodges couldn't believe his ears. "I made you laugh, but not at me. You laughed at one of my jokes. That's a first."

"I guess we have two reasons to celebrate tonight."

* * *

"I got the job!" Roy informed Greg when he saw him coming downstairs. "The HR person at the lab left a message on my cell saying I passed my drug test and should report for new employee training on Wednesday. First I have to go through three days of general orientation and then I'll start job-specific stuff on Monday." 

"Mailroom or runner?"

"Runner."

"Cool." Refilling his coffee mug, Greg said, "I know I would rather be running stuff all over the building and over to PD than being trapped in the mailroom all day."

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"And don't worry about starting out at the bottom, everyone has to start somewhere."

"Yeah." Sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter drinking a beer, Roy laughed, "I've never had a problem being on the bottom before, so I'm sure I'll handle it just fine."

"Ha! Good one." Sitting on the opposite side of the counter, Greg decided to spend a few minutes bonding with the new housemate/family member. "Did Nick say you could drink beer here even though you're underage?"

"No, but he didn't say I couldn't either. I'll be 21 soon anyway."

"When?"

"11 months."

Greg laughed, "You so remind me of me at your age. Just don't have more than three beers, make that two, and promise me you won't drive. Do I have to take your keys to be sure or can I trust you? Wait...how do I know I can I trust you to answer that truthfully?"

"I don't have a car, remember?"

"Right! So I guess I don't have to take away your keys, young man." Greg shivered. "I'll stop doing my Dave Sanders impression now."

"It's okay."

"No, really," Greg laughed, "I'm scaring the shit out of myself by sounding just like my dad and I need to stop."

"Honestly, it's kinda nice havin' someone care about me after being on my own for so long. I have a couple of buddies in San Francisco, but it's nothin' like family. They did box up and ship my stuff today though. Nick wired the cash to cover the expenses."

"Cool." Desperate to sound like a buddy instead of judgmental father, Greg asked, "So, um…what's the hot club in San Francisco right now?"

"Well, I've been gone four days, so I really can't say, but five nights ago it was Diablo." Teasing his cousin's boyfriend, Roy asked, "What was the hot spot when you used to live there in the olden days?"

"I'm sure the place has been two dozen different clubs by now, but I always went to Zodiac." The mention of the club's name brought a smile to Greg's face. "After my fiancée Lacey cheated on me and I decided to swing back to guys, I spent about a year and all of my expendable cash there. All my money went to booze and tipping bar boys for sticking their tighty whities in my face. Since I didn't have any moves on the dance floor, I hung out in the back room where I was appreciated." He laughed, "I had issues…woman issues, trust issues, mommy issues, daddy issues. All it took to be popular in the back room was a mouth like a Hoover. It was a nice escape, until it got old."

"Did you stick to dance clubs or did you check out private parties and other places?"

"No, I was way too much of a geek to get that adventurous. I found my comfort zone in the back room of Zodiac and stayed there until I worked out enough angst. Then I moved to New York for a year, but it didn't feel right, so when the Vegas job opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance."

"And then you jumped my cousin."

"Yeah, eight freaking years later."

Lowering his beer bottle, Roy grinned, "You guys have some serious patience to keep your hands off each other that long."

"We're making up for it, believe me."

"I've never been able to do that. If I see a guy I like, I go for it, no hesitation."

"Have you met anyone in Vegas yet?" Greg joked, "Of course you have - you've been here four days and you're young, hot and gay."

"As a matter of fact I have met someone." Bursting at the seams to tell someone, Roy asked, "You have to promise not to tell Nick, because he wouldn't approve."

"Why wouldn't Nick approve? Does the guy have a record? Is the guy a dealer?"

"No." Roy set his empty beer bottle in the sink. "He's got a spotless record and he's a great guy…sweet and honest, but with enough of a wild streak in the bedroom to make things interesting."

"So what's the problem? Why would Nick…"

"It's Bobby D."

"Doh!"

* * *

After rapping on his boss's door, Grissom asked, "Ready, Conrad?" 

"Definitely." With a curious grin on his face, the Assistant Lab Director rocked in his deluxe office chair and watched his most elusive employee take a seat.

"Thanks for agreeing to meet at night instead of in the morning after graveyard."

"You hate meetings, Gil. You've found a way to avoid 99 percent of the meetings I've called since becoming your boss, so when my secretary said you _requested_ a meeting, I knew it was going to be good."

"I hope you don't mind." Grissom waved in Nick, who was pacing in the hallway. "I've asked CSI Stokes to join us since he has a vested interest in the topic at hand."

"Not at all." Ecklie jumped to his feet and puffed out his chest. "Good to see you Nick." As impossible as it seemed, he looked even buffer and better than last week when he looked perfect. "Nice shirt choice."

"Uh, thank you." Considering Greg had literally thrown it at him as he rushed out the door to make it to the lab on time, Nick snickered on the inside. "And thanks for lettin' me sit in on the meeting."

"Like I've said before, any time you want to talk, my door is open." Returning to his chair, Ecklie asked, "So what are we here to discuss, gentleman?"

Nick anxiously looked to Grissom. "Do you want to tell him or…"

"Marriage," Gil blurted, ready to put the cards on the table.

"Marriage?" Ecklie parroted, surprised by the answer. "In reference to a case?"

"No," Gil clarified, "marriage between employees and the current departmental policy."

When the Assistant Lab Director saw Nick's gaze nervously move to the floor his breathing quickened. "The two of you are here because you're concerned about the employee marriage policy?"

"Sir." Nick roughly cleared his throat. "I know that inter-office dating is generally frowned upon, but you have to understand that we work long shifts and tons of overtime. A lot of us don't have time for life beyond this job and the people we work with every night." Once again he looked to Grissom for help. "Right? That's why it happened?"

"That and because we felt an undeniable attraction," Gil laughed, not wanting to appear tense. "Don't make it sound like we got married because we were desperate and didn't know anyone else. That doesn't sound very romantic, Nicky."

"Sorry." Blushing from the stress, Nick made momentary eye contact with Ecklie and said, "But it does make sense since we obviously have a lot in common with the people we work with, right? It's hard to find someone on the outside who can handle what we do for a living and it's honestly nice to have someone at home who can empathize. Isn't it, Griss?"

"Yes, but let's stick to the professional concern and not get into the personal details."

"Sure. Yeah." Sweat forming on his brow, Nick straightened up in his chair. "Sorry."

Ecklie couldn't believe that Stokes, the straight man of his gay dreams was actually gay and that he had lost him to Grissom before he even knew the Texan's ass had been up for grabs. "Wh…I'm sorry, this is a bit shocking for me because…what does Sara think, Gil?" He wanted to know if she had been a beard all along or was she just as surprised by the news.

"She wants the department policy changed and accommodations made so the team isn't split up."

"I know that's important to Greg too," Nick stated, finally feeling comfortable enough to speak up. "At risk of sounding conceited, I'm gonna confess that Day Shift has a high turnover rate and they're so disgruntled they can't possible mentor someone with Greg's intelligence and enthusiasm like Sara and I can. He needs us around and frankly, Sir, the last time we were split up, things really went to hell."

Still struggling with the idea that Grissom and Nick were married, Ecklie scratched his head and asked, "Let's back up a second…when did you tie knot?"

"Over the weekend."

"We're engaged to be married on July 12th actually."

Ecklie laughed as his confusion mounted. "Do you need a minute to get your stories straight?"

"What?" Grissom and Nick simultaneously replied.

"Nick says you're only engaged to be married on July 12th, but Gil, you seem to think you married him over the weekend. Which is it?" Watching his employees exchange puzzled glances, the boss impatiently waited for an explanation.

Leaning over, Nick whispered, "Does he think you and I are a couple?"

"I believe so," Grissom nodded. "Yes."

Nick's laughter rattled the pictures on the wall before he choked out, "Grissom and I aren't a couple! He married Sara this weekend, not **me**."

"Oh!" Ecklie joined in the laughter.

Shaking his head Grissom was reminded of why Conrad Ecklie had been a terrible CSI. "It didn't dawn on you to check our ring fingers and see if we were wearing matching bands?"

"Come on, Gil." Ecklie knew the genius was thinking he was a dolt. "The two of you come in here together for a mystery meeting that turns out to be about inter-office romance and marriage. Trust me, it sounded like you were a couple."

Feeling intellectually superior to his rival, Grissom smirked, "I'm sure it did to someone of your limited…"

"Griss!" Nick shot his boss a warning glare. "We're here to ask the Assistant Lab Director for **help**, remember?"

"What Stokes is trying to tell you, Gil, is maybe you shouldn't insult the man who is in control of your team's destiny." Smiling at the straight man of his dreams, Ecklie said, "I'm sure your politically active parents taught you the value of good politics."

"Yes, Sir."

"So, Nick, now that we've established you're not gay and thankfully not married to Gil, who are you marrying on July 12th? Willows?" Ecklie laughed, "No, you couldn't bring her to the ranch to meet your parents. It's Mandy Webster, isn't it? Yeah, she's got that girl next door thing going on."

Gil found the comment amusing since sweet little Mandy had gotten drunken enough to have sex with Henry and get knocked up. "Nothing gets by you, Conrad."

The moment of truth in front of him, Nick took a deep breath and answered, "You were half right before actually. I…I am gay."

The news couldn't have been better, "Really, Stokes?"

"Yes." Even though he was being gaped at, Nick maintained his composure. "To answer your question, I'm marrying Greg Sanders on July 12th. We're havin' a religious ceremony and will be married spiritually, but not legally. We have also applied for a legal domestic partnership in the state of California, but it won't be recognized in Nevada. As you can see, it's a little complicated, that's why I'm here with Grissom to discuss how the departmental marriage policy applies to gay couples working together."

"I…well." Overwhelmed by the good and bad news, Ecklie looked from man to man and said, "I think I need a little time to digest the information both of you have shared and to research precedent among other things. I'm pretty sure we have a lesbian couple who got married in Massachusetts, but I'm not sure how Human Resources handled the situation. I'll call a follow up meeting once I have something definitive. Nick, since neither you nor Sanders are in supervisory positions, I don't have a problem with the two of you continuing to work together unless the relationship interferes with your job performance."

"I guarantee it won't, Sir."

"You're a very respected and responsible guy around here, Nick." In case there was a chance the boys were into threesomes, Ecklie kept sucking up. "I know I can trust you both to be exceedingly professional."

"Thank you." Nick breathed easier. "I really appreciate you givin' us the benefit of the doubt. We won't disappoint you."

"I appreciate it too," Grissom chimed in as he stood to leave.

"Not so fast, Gil." Ecklie took great pride in scowling at the biggest rule-bender in the department. "Unlike Stokes and Sanders, you and Sidle have actually violated department policy, more than one actually. Supervisors aren't allowed to date the employees they review and they aren't allowed to marry them either. How long have you been doing Sidle?"

"Excuse me?" Grissom's voice turned icy.

_Oh shit._ Nick's stomach acid resumed bubbling.

"Sidle's performance reviews," Ecklie restated with a smirk. "How long have you been doing them?"

"Seven years."

"And how long have you been…actively dating?"

Grissom snipped, "Since the night we rescued Nick."

"Ah." The Assistant Lab Director settled back against his chair. "Two people brought together by tragedy. How sweet…and cliché."

Gil tapped his watch. "Graveyard shift begins in fifteen minutes and I need to get my assignments done, so if you'll excuse me."

"As of this minute, Sidle reports directly to me."

Nick covered his mouth. _Sara's not gonna like that. _

"I was going to have her report to Catherine," Gil countered, touching off a battle of wills.

"No, because Catherine reports to you and that's conflict of interest."

"Catherine can be trusted not to be swayed."

"Really?" Ecklie tossed his head back and chuckled, "Willows has a spotty record when it comes to conflicts of interest and loyalties. I'm sure CSI Stokes would agree. Willows thinks of Willows first and foremost. If her review is in your hands, Gil, she'll do whatever you want."

"Why don't you just admit that you're just using this opportunity to get a little revenge?"

"No, Gil, I'm not." Enjoying the morsel of power he finally had over his rival, Ecklie grinned, "You may believe you're above the law around here, not attending required meetings and ignoring your boss's pages and calls, but** I** actually follow the department rules and guidelines.** I** respect my superiors."

"Is that what they're calling kissing the Sheriff's ass these days?"

After a dramatic pause, Ecklie said, "On second thought, why should I burden myself with an extra employee responsibility. I'm going to move Sidle to Days."

"No!" Nick blurted. "Please don't. Grave needs Sara Sidle. It wouldn't be the same around here without her. Please, don't break up the team. If Griss and Sara have been a couple for almost two years without any of us knowing, then they've already proven they know how to handle things discreetly and professionally."

"Okay, Nick." Ecklie stood and grabbed his car keys and briefcase. "Make sure you tell Sara it was you, not her husband that saved her job. She should know that Gil chose to put his ego before her happiness. Take it from a divorced man, if you want your marriage to last, you have to be willing to sacrifice a little something every now and then." Walking to his office door he cheerily said, "Have a good shift, gentlemen."

Once they were alone, Gil glanced over. "You're not really going to tell Sara what he said, are you?"

"No, but as much as it pains me to say it, he was freakin' right." Nick stood and stuffed his hands on his hips. "I'm glad I didn't marry you! I don't want my husband only thinkin' of his own ass."

"Is this a bad time?" Judy asked while trying to pretend she didn't just hear what she overheard. "How about I just leave these slips for you, Grissom and then you and Nick can get back to...I'll be at my desk."

"Judy, wait! Wait!" Nick decided to use his usual flirtation skills to keep her attention. "Hi." Leaning against the doorframe in his sexiest pose, the Texan cracked his trademark smile. "About what you just heard…Grissom never asked me to marry him. He actually married Sara Sidle this weekend. I was jokin' around, givin' him a hard time."

"Grissom and Sara tied the knot this weekend?" Judy couldn't wait to get to the water cooler. "Wow!"

"Pretty cool, huh?" He moved a little closer. "Yeah, I'm real happy for 'em."

Getting high on her favorite cowboy's scent, Judy giggled, "As impossible as it seemed, I really thought you were gay."

"He really is gay," Grissom stated while dropping a hand on Nick's shoulder. "He and Greg Sanders have been a couple for a while now. They got engaged this weekend and decided it was time to come out at the lab. I'm really happy for them."

Judy gaped at the ladies man seductively leaning in front of her. "That's another joke, right?"

"No." Nick stopped flirting and straightened up. "I really am gay and engaged to Greg." He held up his right hand. "We even have matching bands."

Knowing she just hit the water cooler jackpot, Judy covered her mouth and raced down the hall.

"Thanks, Griss." Nick sneered at his boss.

"I thought showing my support of your relationship was the politically correct thing to do as a responsible supervisor." Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Gil strolled out the door knowing his marriage to Sara was already old news.

* * *

**ANs:**

The night is young and it continues in the next chapter: The Politics of Dating and Marriage – Part 2.

I had a few shout outs to the show in this one and a few canon references. I hope you enjoyed those and got a few laughs.

**Thanks to:**

KJT for editing the 1st half

My hubby for editing the 2nd half

Veronica10 for pre-reading

All of you for reading!

Maggs


	22. Chapter 22: The Politics of Dating and

**AN: I've used the new poll feature on this site to add a favorite story poll. If you want to vote, it's on my profile page (click MsMaggs in the header information above) **

**Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 22: The Politics of Dating and Marriage – Part 2**

"Nick is gay?!" Bettina Flores from Fraud was certain the statement was false. "Nick the CSI? Five foot ten, gorgeous smile, big time reputation for being a **ladies **man? Do you think I was born yesterday?" Laughing, she glanced over at her co-workers standing around the cooler clutching pointy paper cups. "What do you guys think?"

Staci Jensen from Evidence said, "Judy, nothing we've seen and heard Nick do points to him being gay. Unless you can show me proof, I'm not buying it."

"Yeah." Ronnie Litra from Questionable Documents said, "After everything I've witnessed over the years, I'm not going to question Nick's sexuality. On paper he looks like one of the straightest guys around here."

"No kidding!" Clara, the lead Records Clerk, said, "Nick has dated more women than anyone in LVPD history." Shaking her head, she snipped, "I'm filing this one away as a vicious rumor. I can't believe you'd pick on Nick after everything he's been through. He's such a nice guy."

"Yeah, what other big news do you have, Judy?" the Fraud investigator laughed, "Let me guess…the Pope isn't Catholic? If you're going to lie about something, at least pick something that's remotely plausible."

"I'm not lying!" the secretary with a reputation for gossip accuracy adamantly defended her grapevine contribution. "I heard it **directly** from Nick's mouth." She appealed to her friend from Evidence, "Staci, when you see Stokes tonight, check his right hand, his A&M ring is gone and he's wearing a wedding band!"

"So now they're married?" Ronnie chuckled. "Bring me their marriage certificate and maybe I'll believe you."

"Oh!" Clara discreetly pointed and whispered, "Stokes is walking this way."

"Act natural!" Judy pleaded, not wanting Nick to think she was gossiping about him.

"Hey, Nick." Ronnie nodded and looked for overt signs of gayness as the CSI approached.

"Hey." Feeling five sets of eyes drilling into him, Nick decided to face the things head on. "Yes, I'm gay and in a committed relationship with Greg Sanders. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, because I'd rather you hear things from me than through the grapevine secondhand."

Facing her skeptical co-workers, Judy silently screamed 'I told you so' with her eyes.

"Good for you," Ronnie replied, wanting to sound un-homophobic. "I don't have a problem with gay guys." He smiled wide…until he realized Nick might misinterpret his happiness for an admission of mutual gayness and a desire to party. "What I mean is – even though I'm straight, very straight," he clarified while nodding at Bettina. "I'm a straight guy who has no problem with gay men…or women," he said upon moving his gaze to Clara.

"I'm not gay!" Clara huffed, tired of people making that assumption. "Just because I have **short hair** and wear **comfortable** shoes doesn't mean I'm a lesbian!" Hoping she hadn't offended Nick, she groveled, "Not that there's anything wrong with lesbians or being gay. I'm just...I don't want people thinking that I am because then guys don't ask me out and if I don't get..." she stopped herself before saying 'laid'. "Judy mentioned you had a new ring. Can I see it?" She joked past the awkward moment, "You know us evidence clerks – we always need physical proof."

"Sure." Nick held out his shaky right hand. "That double shot of espresso is hittin' me hard," he joked, trying to explain away the trembling.

"I like the Celtic Knot," Clara stated. "Congratulations."

"Yeah," Bettina politely smiled and nodded. "I hope you and Greg are very happy together."

"Thanks." Ready for a break from the spotlight, Nick said, "Hey, did you hear Grissom and Sara got married? Yeah, they dashed off to Chapel of Little Flowers four days ago and tied the knot."

"I bet she's pregnant," Bettina blurted, "I noticed a slight pooch in her belly the other day."

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but duty calls." Nick tapped his watch. "I'll catch you later." He hurried down the hall, hoping that Judy hadn't made it past the water cooler.

"Howdy, cowboy!" Dina Simcox, the graveyard shift Administrative Assistant for Autopsy, came bounding over smiling. "Have a good weekend?" The Fort Worth native and fellow Aggie had been hoping to hook up with the Texan since the day she met him three months ago. She kept telling herself to hold out for football season and their mutual love of Aggie ball would bring them together.

"Howdy, Dina!" He grinned at the perky blonde 25 year old who loved to trade A&M stories whenever he was hanging around waiting for Doc. "I had a great weekend, thanks for askin'. What about you, sweetheart?"

"I went to…OH MY GOD!"

"What?!" Nick startled from the woman's shriek. "What's wrong?!" He did a 360 turn looking for what had spooked the normally calm girl.

"You're Aggie ring is gone!" The Texan clutched her chest. "You must be devastated. What happened? Did you lose it or was it stolen?" She saw he had a different ring on and figured he needed it to fill the void.

"Oh. No, I um…" He anxiously cleared his throat. "It's at home safe and sound. I took it off."

"You **took it off**?" The statement made no sense to the diehard Aggie graduate. "Why?!" she asked, unable to think of a valid reason.

"My fiancé gave me this band and I can't wear it on my left hand until our weddin' in July."

"Fiancée?" Her dream of standing with Nick in an Aggie-themed nursery shattered, she sadly said, "You're getting married in July?" Her hands instinctively covered her womb as she mourned for the baby they'd never have. "Who is she? What year did she graduate from A&M?"

"My fiancé went to Stanford actually."

After gasping in horror, Dina said, "You're marryin' outside your school? Have you been through a football season together yet?"

"No." Nick chuckled, "My fiancé isn't much of a sports fan though."

Seeing a glimmer of hope that a divorce was in her future husband's future, Dina took a breath and smiled. "What's the lucky girl's name?" she asked, so she could silently curse the bitch.

"Greg Sanders."

Dina's hysterical laughter echoed in the hall. "Good one."

"Actually I'm not…"

"Stokes!" Officer Chloe Davina came stomping down the hall, her red hair flowing wild. "How long have you been getting it on with **Greg Sanders**?! Did you tell him we screwed like rabbits in the back of my squad car in January?!"

"You were telling the truth about…" Dina gaped at her dream man. "But we were supposed to get married and make beautiful Aggie babies together."

"We were?" Nick replied in a shaky voice, "Wh…when…" But the shock of Chloe's slap across the face cut off his words. "What the hell?!" He brought his hand to his stinging cheek. "Are you crazy? You just assaulted me while in uniform."

"Yeah, and you fucked me without telling me you like to fuck boys!" Shaking from a combination of anger, fear and embarrassment, the cop blasted, "I can't believe I fell for your bullshit!"

In all the discussions with Greg about coming out, Nick had forgotten to analyze the possible reactions of former female lovers. Too stunned to speak, he remained frozen in the middle of the hallway.

"You said you would call me the next day, but you never did. We spent hours together being intimate. We shared things, personal things, I opened up to you and trusted you with things I don't tell other people. I told you, because I thought we had a connection. The next time I saw you I confronted you about not calling me when you promised you would. You fed me some sob story about having baggage and trust issues after being kidnapped." Her voice cracked, "I believed you, you son of a bitch! That's why I've been nice to you all this time, but now I know the real reason you didn't call - I was nothing but a substitute hole for you when there wasn't a boy around to bang in Boulder City that night when we were stuck for hours waiting for a Coroner."

With his hand over his heart, Nick quietly said, "Chloe, I swear that's not…"

"Save it, Stokes!" Biting back her tears, the spurned woman said, "Why would I believe **anything** you have to say when you already lied to my face?!"

Even though Nick was a fellow Aggie, Dina couldn't jump to his defense after hearing what the woman had to say about him.

"Excuse me…" When Grissom heard yelling in the hallway, he hurried to end his phone call with the ADA rushed to see what was happening. "Is there a problem here, Officer?" The devastated look on Nick's face jarring him, he said, "What's going on, Nick?"

Tears pooling in her eyes, Chloe pointed at Stokes. "The problem is he's a lying sack of shit. He told me he loved redheads, but forgot to mention he liked boys. He probably figured I wouldn't let him in my mouth if I knew he liked to put it in Greg Sanders's ass! And he would have been right!" She shoved a trembling finger in the duplicitous man's face. "I'm sending you the bill for my HIV test and God help you if you gave me something."

"Get back to work, people!" Grissom shouted at the onlookers. "Now!" Stepping in front of the shaken officer, he directed her towards his office. "I think it would be best to move this discussion behind closed doors."

Humiliated for losing it and airing her dirty laundry in front of co-workers, Chloe jumped at the offer for immediately shelter.

"Nicky." Grissom waved him to follow. "You too."

Once the supervisor's office door shut, everyone returned to the hallway to gape at each other and mouth 'wow'.

Glancing across the hall at Archie, Hodges said, "For the first time in my entire life, I'm glad I'm not Nick."

The romantically challenged AV Tech nodded, "Me too. Can you imagine how many more women like her are out there? How many LVPD babes do you think he's slept with?"

"46," Hodges answered, "Plus or minus 10 percent."

* * *

"The risk of contracting HIV from oral sex is extremely low," Grissom counseled the terrified woman who was sitting in a guest chair sipping from the water bottle he had given her from his small office refrigerator. "Unless you had an open wound in your mouth at the time, or had flossed your teeth within…" 

"There's **no **chance she contracted HIV from me!" Nick blurted for the second time as he paced the room. "I know that, because I'm not HIV positive."

"Yes, you've said that," Grissom nodded, "and now I'm giving her **another **reason not to worry since we don't have results in front of us, okay?"

"Sorry."

"When were you tested?" Chloe asked, her eyes focused on a patch of floor.

As much as Nick hated discussing something so personal, he could see Chloe was terrified and wanted to do whatever it took to make her feel better. "I've been tested every year with my annual physical, which is always in February, so that woulda been about a month after we were together. Then Greg and I were both tested at the end of March for HIV and everything else imaginable, because we're in a monogamous relationship and wanted to…really, all you need to know is I have the results at home and I'll be more than happy to get them and show them to you tonight on my break. I…this is really hard to talk about, but…"

"How do you think **I** feel?" Chloe said, wiping her tears. "Do you think I wanted to come to work today and find out a guy I slept with five months ago was sleeping with Greg Sanders and who knows how many other guys? I was just walking down the hall when I heard people talking about Nick Stokes being gay. My uncle is gay and I know enough about the scene to know I have a legitimate right to be concerned!"

"As difficult as it is, Chloe," Grissom took a seat in the guest chair next to her, "it'll be better if you can stay calm and get the information and facts you need to feel better. Right?" When she nodded, he said, "So we've established that you had protected sex, engaged in other low-risk sexual activities, and Nick has offered to show you his test results. It's a slow night so far and I don't have a problem letting him clock out right now to go home and get them if that's agreeable to him."

"I'll go right now." With his truck keys in hand, Nick said, "I didn't lie about anything that night, Chloe. I know you probably aren't gonna believe me, but it's true. This is the part that's hard for me to say and I know you don't owe me any favors, but I'm hopin' you won't race to the water cooler with the information - I wasn't just lyin' to** you** about bein' straight, I was lyin' to myself until March of this year. I really was **only** a ladies man when I was with you and that stuff I said about havin' issues, that part was true too. Hell, you can come to therapy with me if you don't believe me. You'll believe I have issues, trust me." He laughed from the build up of nervous tension. "I'm not proud of a lot of things I've done and yeah, I've told way too many women I'd call them when I knew I wouldn't. I'm not excusin' that behavior, it was shitty, but at the time it wasn't something I could understand or control. I'm sorry if you feel used and I'm sorry about the way you heard about me and that it stressed you out. I can't take anything back, so apologies are all I have to offer."

Chloe acknowledged the speech with a nod.

"I'll call you when I'm back in the building," Nick said on his way to the door. "It'll be about thirty minutes roundtrip at this time of night."

"I know first hand he's telling the truth about the timing." Gil handed over the box of tissues he kept on his desk. "In our line of work we're told you never really know a person, and it's true. Sometimes…we don't even know ourselves."

Upon drying her eyes, Chloe saw what appeared to be a wedding band on Grissom's finger. "Did you get married?" She pointed to the ring.

"Yes," he answered, smiling at the band and the memory. "Four days ago."

"Oh my God!" Chloe grabbed three more tissues. "How can a freak like you get married, but I can't find anyone?! What's wrong with **me**?!"

Trying to find something encouraging to say, Gil replied, "Hodges is available." As the woman's tears turned into sobs, he reached for his pager and pretended it was vibrating. "I'm sorry, but I have business to attend to. Feel free to stay as long as you need."

* * *

"Where are you off to, Cletus?!" Greg yelled across the parking lot when he saw his partner rushing for his truck. "And why aren't you taking a Denali?" He joked, "Remember what happened the last time you took your personal vehicle to a crime scene?" 

"I'm on my way home to grab my HIV test results, so I can show them to Chloe Davina who's hysterical in Grissom's office. She heard I was gay and is scared I infected her when we were foolin' around in the back of her squad car in Boulder City while waitin' on SuperDave."

"Are you serious?"

"Why the hell would I make somethin' like that up?"

"Sorry." Greg could feel the tension flowing from Nick's body. "So we're out."

"**Way** out."

"But we're good, right? You and me."

Seeing a flash of panic in his partner's eyes made Nick shift gears. "We're great. The world around us may fall apart tonight, but we'll be standin' together on the tiny piece that's left." He sighed, "I'd kiss ya but we're at work and probably bein' watched on seven security cameras."

"That reminds me…" Falling back on humor to get them through a rough patch, Greg joked, "How did Ecklie's ass taste when you were kissing it profusely? Any regrets that you lost your ass kissing cherry on his tush instead of mine?"

"Yeah." Nick nodded as he laughed, "It was brutal."

While his partner slid behind the wheel, Greg tossed up his hands. "Coulda, shoulda, woulda!"

"I'll call you later." After starting the engine, Nick lowered the window and leaned out. "Hey, G…"

Still smiling, Greg walked to the window. "Yeah?"

"I know what you're doin', and you can stop."

"Huh?"

"The ass kissin' jokes." Even though they were alone in the parking lot, Nick whispered, "You're tryin' to change my 'no' to a 'yes' by jokin' around."

"Sorry," Greg shyly apologized, "It's not that I don't respect 'no means no', I swear. It's just something I wanted to try once and I've wondered if your reluctance is based on something we could work through. I'm too big of a dork to ask you, so keep joking around hoping you'll say something, which you just did, so I guess my strategy worked, now we can talk about it."

"There's nothin' to talk about," Nick curtly informed his adorably bashful lover who clearly believed he was about to be screamed at. "I've decided to go ahead and fulfill your taboo desire, because I love you and I read up on how to do it safely."

After realizing he wasn't in trouble, Greg smiled, "You're too good to me, Cletus."

"Nah, I'm just payin' it forward before football season." Happy to have the conversation behind them, Nick said, "I forgot, I'm in a hurry."

"Uh." Greg glanced around and kept a straight face as he joked, "I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I was kind of hoping for a more romantic setting than the lab parking lot. But hey, I'll take what I can get." He reached for his zipper. "Do you want me to just put my candy ass through the window for a drive-thru kind of vibe, or do we have enough time for me to get in the back and pretend I just picked you up on Industrial?"

Nick laughed at his jokester partner's deadpan delivery. "Chill out, Sweet Cheeks. I'm savin' it for our wedding night. I thought it would be nice to have somethin' new to experience together."

"How very traditional," Greg's smile stretched to his ears.

"I'm sure my father wouldn't see it that way." The black sheep smirked, "That really makes the idea even more special, doesn't it?"

"I knew you were going to say that." Grinning wildly, Greg stuffed his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to reach up and kiss his partner like he was shipping out overseas instead of driving across town. "I'll be sure to add Saran Wrap to our honeymoon packing list in case you want to use it."

"And just like that, I'm re-squicked." Nick shook his lowered head. "I can't believe we just had that conversation in the parking lot of the lab, but it fits with the surreal night I'm havin'. I can't believe I'm goin' home to fetch my HIV test results for Chloe." Reconnecting with Greg's eyes, he half-joked, "Do you think I should hang my test results in the breakroom? I'm tryin' to avoid goin' through this 50 times."

"50 huh? That's roughly 6 per year. I guess that's not so…wait…is that including the DA's office or is that** just** LVPD?"

"Shit." Nick lightly banged his head on the steering wheel…twice. "I was such a man-ho."

"You're lucky I love you in spite of your man-ho past, Cletus." Greg forced himself to step away from the truck. "I'll see you when you get back."

"No, you won't. Grissom already taped an assignment slip to your locker." Nick winked as he put the truck in reverse, "You can thank me later for givin' you somethin' sweet to fantasize about when you get there. It's a decomp pick up."

"No! Seriously?!"

"I left a bag of lemons in your locker, lover. I'll have another batch waiting for you in the shower at home." When he saw Greg pouting, Nick laughed, "Just be happy you're not Sara."

"Why? What does she have to do that's worse than handling decomp?"

"She has to report to Ecklie from now on."

"Doh!"

"See. At least decomp stench is only temporary. Be happy you're not Grissom either," Nick laughed as he slowly backed out of the space.

"Why?"

"Because it's his fault Sara's reportin' to Ecklie and when she finds out, he's not gonna be seein' action for a while!"

* * *

"I'm reporting to** Ecklie**?" Sara was sure her ears were deceiving her. 

"I'm sorry, honey," Gil replied, hoping that she wouldn't give his half of the bed to Bruno, "but it was either that or move you to Days."

"And you chose for me?" Glancing down at her ring, she shook her head, "Is that like a husband thing? Do you think you own me now?"

"What?" The confused husband sat in his chair dumbfounded.

"We're married 4 days and you think you have the right to speak for me and decide my future? How could you just hand me over to Ecklie and tell me after the fact? Did you think my opinion stopped mattering when you slipped the ring on my finger?"

"Uh…"

"It really never occurred to you to say 'let me give Sara the options and have her get back to you'?"

"Um…"

"What did you say to him when he gave you the choices?" When he said nothing, she grew suspicious. "What really happened at that meeting?" Reading his tells, she planted her hands on her hips. "You got pissy with him, didn't you? You got pissy and then he got you back by making me report to him. Then you got pissier and he said he was going to move me to Days."

"Nick sold me out."

"What?"

"He told you what happened."

"I haven't seen or spoken to Nick since Greg's party." Growing increasingly aggravated, she snapped, "What did you mean when you said Nick sold you out?"

_Shit. _

"You told Nick not to tell me what happened?"

"No, I asked him if he would tell you and he said wouldn't."

"Man to man you just agreed to keep the handling of your little woman hush hush. Nice." At her limit, she walked out of the office.

"Sara…" he called out when she was already walking by the glass wall glaring at him. _Shit._ He dropped back against his chair and sighed, "The honeymoon is definitely over."

* * *

"Where will you be honeymooning?" Judy queried, looking to infuse the grapevine with new details. 

Happy to finally have a boyfriend and a relationship to discuss with other people, Greg excitedly answered, "Maui." Walking side by side into the locker room, he explained, "My parents have a small house there on some gorgeous beachfront property."

"So your parents are supportive of you and your relationship with Nick?"

"Supportive is an understatement. My mom is a PFLAG warrior and every week my dad gets a little more comfortable with having a gay son. I'm a lucky guy."

"That's great."

"Yeah." Greg grabbed the assignment slip taped to his locker and then opened the door. "Ha!" _Looks like you left me more than a bag of lemons, Cletus._

Judy immediately noticed the photos on the inside of the door. "I never saw those pictures before." Studying people's photos and personal items was one of her favorite pastimes and she couldn't imagine how she had missed them until now.

"They're new." Beaming from the sweet surprise, he pointed to the first one. "That's us with our dog Chico. The lady at the rescue center took that picture with my camera. We adopted Chico right after we moved into our new house. Nick had him trained in like an hour. I love him."

"Nick or Chico?"

"Yeah," Greg dreamily replied while staring at the two Catalina photos. "This was our first vacation together. We're on my dad's boat. We had a phenomenal time."

From the dreamy look on her co-worker's face, she could tell he was head over heels. "What did you do there?"

"Sorry, Judy," Greg snickered, "I don't kiss and tell."

"Just one thing," the single secretary, who had a secret crush on Nick for years, whispered, "is he as good as the girls say he is?"

"Chicks love to exaggerate." After shutting his locker door, Greg turned around shaking his head. "Honestly, he's not as good as they said."

The news lessened the lonely woman's pain.

"He's better, much better."

Judy's eyes popped open.

"There is one issue." Leaning in, he whispered, "With hands that strong, a mouth that hot, and a piece that big, it's **much **harder for me to get out of bed and come to work every night. Who wants to leave heaven to work in hell?" Patting the gossipmonger on the shoulder, Greg smiled, "Make sure you quote me accurately." For added effect, he walked like he had been riding a horse for a week. "See you later."

"Yeah." Judy waved and mourned her loss. "Bye."

* * *

"Hey," Nick muttered in his cousin's direction as he breezed into the home office. 

Sitting at Greg's desk, Roy scrambled to hide his beer. "What are you doing home so soon?"

When Nick saw his cousin get flustered, he checked the computer screen. "You're watchin' porn. I don't want downloads of that shit on Greg's hard drive."

"Chill out, Cuz. Greg gave me his Men at Play website password and told me to have fun."

Nick's eyes widened as he watched one of actors groaning while another man performed the taboo act his partner was dying to experience. "Greg likes this site?"

Roy rocked lightly in the comfy desk chair. "Don't worry, your lover said he didn't need porn now that he had you, but his subscription was paid through the year and he didn't want it to go to waste."

"Oh." Nick forced his gaze away from the screen. "I um…I just came home to grab a file real quick." But his eyes had a mind of their own and they darted back to the action.

When Roy saw his cousin gaping at the screen a third time he laughed, "You're actin' like you've never seen porn."

"I haven't actually." Nick glanced away embarrassed, "Not like this. Not gay porn."

"No way!" The young man took a turn gaping. "Seriously?"

"Look, I'm a busy guy. I don't have time to sit around and watch this stuff." Realizing he could use some new moves, Nick memorized the website password he saw on the desk on a Post-it note. "And you have to remember that I was avoidin' all things gay until three months ago."

"Right, right, I keep forgettin'." It felt funny to be mentoring his mentor. "Just so you know – not all gay porn is like this. Your partner has champagne taste. This site is described as a suit and tie fetish place where luxury and sophistication meet grit and lust. At the beginning, the guys are clean and their suits perfectly pressed, but by the end of the movie, they're both a mess and their suits need to go to the Dry Cleaners. On the info page it says the suit represents masculinity, dominance and power, so it's a turn on to see a guy submit who looks like he's normally the big boss. After watchin' two movies, I definitely agree. This shit is hot. No wonder Greg signed up for a year's supply." Roy's Bobby-obsessed mind started wandering. "Lab guys don't ever wear suits, do they? The HR folks I saw durin' my interview did, but you're wearin' jeans tonight and I'm guessin' no."

"Upper Management and cops ranked as Detectives and above wear suits all the time, but CSIs only wear 'em when they go to the courthouse to testify." While watching the screen and wondering when Greg was due in court next, Nick folded his HIV results paper and stuffed it in his jacket. "Our jobs are too demandin' and dirty to wear suits…and I don't mean in the porno sense."

"I bet testifyin' in court is real scary." Still uncertain if Bobby would ever wear a suit, Roy asked, "Are CSIs the only ones who have to do it or do the DNA, AV, and Ballistics guys have to do it too?"

Knowing his cousin was thinking of a future career in Forensics, Nick said, "Don't let the testifyin' part of the job scare ya off. It's a really important part, but it's a small part, and you get used to it after a few times. To answer your question, who goes to court depends on the case. If it's a real high profile deal then I bring Archie or Bobby D with me to give direct expert testimony, but if it's small time, I can usually handle it myself."

With a 'Bobby in a Suit' fantasy forming in his head, Roy smiled, "Good to know."

"I'll see ya later." Nick walked to the door smirking. "Don't forget about that beer you stowed on the floor under the desk, 'cause I'd hate for Greg to come home and knock it over."

"Nothin' gets by CSI Stokes."

"That's right." Nick pointed at his cousin. "No more than three and don't leave the house if you've been drinkin'."

"Hey, Nick!" Roy called out to stop him from leaving.

"Yeah?"

"I really hate to ask for one more favor, but I'll pay you back with my first paycheck, I swear."

"I told ya…whatever you need to get back on your feet." Nick reached for his wallet as he returned to the desk. "How much?" He used the opportunity to watch more of the power play on screen.

"I don't know. How much does a crack and sack wax cost here? I'll also need the phone number of your place to make an appointment."

Nick cocked his head. "What the hell is a crack and sack wax?"

Figuring they used different terminology in Vegas, Roy queried, "What do you call getting the hair on your balls removed and your ass waxed inside and out?"

"Torture. Insanity. All of the above."

The confused look on his cousin's face made Roy laugh. "You wax your chest and back, so I assumed you waxed your parts too. You don't?"

Nick instinctively covered his groin. "No! You do?!"

"Yeah. I guess as long as Greg doesn't mind dining in the jungle it's not an issue since you're monogamous."

"Are you talkin' about…" Nick pointed to the taboo on screen action, "that."

"You're 35, Nick, you're allowed to say naughty words." Seeing his cousin cringe, Roy stopped laughing. "Oh no…are you guys frot freaks?"

"Speak straight, I'm still a newbie."

"Frot freaks - guys who don't believe in penetration or other forms of backdoor fun. They're into frottage and not much else. I got the 'an ass is not a vagina' lecture one night at a club from a militant frot man and..."

"No, we're not…like that, but you have to remember, I'm still gettin' used to some things and don't know all the lingo." Nick quietly explained, "Greg doesn't wax his parts, so it never dawned on me that guys do. We did have a bodybuilder on the slab once who didn't have a hair on his body, that was weird."

"I never thought I'd be teachin' you stuff, Cuz."

"Me either." His curiosity piqued, Nick asked, "Doesn't waxin' your ball hair hurt like hell?"

"I think it's worth it. Not just for sexual reasons either. I love workin' out without the extra fur. In the Vegas heat, I think you'd feel much better. Think about it…what's grosser, sweaty skin or sweaty hairy skin?"

Nick silently pondered the waxing idea.

Enjoying the reversal of status, Roy tweaked his cousin, "Maybe if Greg got a crack wax, you wouldn't be so scared to dive in."

"Shut up!" Nick snapped, "I didn't make fun of you when you got the shakes before takin' the field for the first time as a quarterback and came to me in tears, did I? **No!** I was supportive. I boosted your confidence and helped you. It's really hard to go from bein' an expert with women to bein' inexperienced with guys. Seriously, I feel stupid enough without havin' the punk I used to babysit makin' fun of me."

"Sorry, humor is my coping mechanism. From now on, I promise to help you without bein' a punk." His vulnerability peeking through, Roy said, "I know I keep doin' things to piss you off, but…please don't kick me out."

"Come here." Nick hugged his scared, homeless cousin. "Even if I get annoyed with you or we get into an argument, this is your home until you can afford one of your own, so please relax and stop worryin' I'm not gonna kick you out over a joke or an empty soda can on the couch. When I love someone, I have a high tolerance level. Trust me, Greg woulda been out on his ear long ago if I didn't. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah."

"Good." After a solid pat on the back, Nick took a seat on the edge of the desk. "In all honesty, I could use some sex advice. Although Greg's been great helpin' me through everything and even though he's a good teacher, sometimes I'd like to consult an outside source because…I don't know exactly, it's just…"

"You hate bein' clueless in front of the guy whose world you're tryin' to rock, because it takes away from the mystique and makes you seem less studly."

"Yeah. That." Nick shared a laugh with his cousin. "For instance, Greg was my head coach, so every time I'm doin' it, I feel like he's grading me. I'd like to be able to teach him somethin' new."

"I doubt you can." Remembering his earlier conversation with his cousin's partner, Roy said, "He told me he spent the better part of a year on his knees in the back room of a club in San Francisco. It's hard to show a guy a new trick when he's done somethin' a thousand times with as many guys."

"A thousand," Nick laughed at the thought, but when his cousin didn't join in, he stopped and said, "You don't seriously think he's blown a thousand guys…do you?"

"365 days in a year and 3 guys a night is hardly shocking when you're talking about the hardcore party scene. With the drugs Greg said he was doing, he would have been up for doin' 10 guys a night." When he saw Nick's stunned reaction, Roy panicked, "I um…I assumed he told you about his binge year. He was upset from his fiancée cheating on him…."

"Yeah, he did, just not in that kind of detail."

"Oops."

"Did he say he had sex with guys at clubs?" Nick gulped down the lump in his throat.

"No. Definitely not. He never ventured beyond that club or that activity. He was too scared."

Breathing again, Nick smiled, "He's a geeky nervous pervert with some serious phobias, so that makes sense, yeah. No wonder he was so forgiving about me sleepin' with 50 LVPD women."

"I think Greg is happy to have an outsider to run stuff by too. He really loves you and wants to make you happy." Roy smiled. "And believe me, **every **guy is nervous when he starts exploring uncharted sexual territory, not just you. It's cliché to say it, but there really are no stupid questions."

"Okay then." Nick pointed to the computer screen. "That looks** so** nasty to me. Does it really feel good?"

"I take it back, there is such a thing as a stupid question." Laughing along with his cousin, Roy said, "Think of it this way - what feels better gliding over your lips, Greg's finger or his tongue? Which one feels better invading your mouth?"

"Okay, yeah, when you put it like that." Nick blushed to a deep red. "We used to discuss Spiderman comics and now…unbelievable."

"I still love Spiderman comics."

"I haven't even seen the latest movie." The older cousin fell silent as he thought of the test results in his pocket and momentarily longed for the innocence of childhood and freedom from the stress of dating and sex.

"Hey, Nick…after all the help you and Greg are both givin' me, it feels good to be helpin' you guys out a little." Roy continued sweetly counseling the newbie, "Think of a Brazilian wax like sex - it hurts like hell the first time because you're really tense from not knowin' what to expect, so you can't relax when you're supposed to. When it's over though, you'll feel great, and the more you do it, the easier it gets."

* * *

"I'll never get used to this," Sofia yelled at Greg while desperately sucking in fresh air twenty five yards from the putrefied body. "I don't care how many years I'm on the job, that smell will bring me to my knees." 

"Really?!" Through his mask, Greg proudly shouted, "I think I'm dealing a little better every time!"

"You're just in one of those really good moods that make everything seem better than it is." Sofia muttered under her breath, "If I was waking up in Nick's arms every day I'd be in a great mood too. Lucky bastard."

Smiling as he sealed a suitcase full of liquefying body parts, Greg resumed fantasizing about his honeymoon night. "It helps to go to your happy place and stay there!"

* * *

'What kind of a place do you think this is, Mister?!' were the first words Nick heard when he stepped outside his home. "Uh." He searched the night for the source of the screechy voice. "Ma'am?" 

"This is a family neighborhood full of good, God-fearin' people, not some sleazy party zone!"Mrs. LeAnn Quinn, a 38 year old happily married woman and stay-at-home mother of four, stepped out from behind her front hedges to confront her neighbor of three weeks. "Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Party Boy!" A Texas native, she spoke with a drawl that only got thicker when she was hysterical, "I can't believe the McMahons sold that house to someone like** you**. I told them their beautiful home would become a flop house, but did they care about the people they were leavin' behind? No! To think they sat next to us in church. So much for 'love they neighbor'! Thanks to them, we've got drugs, sex and rap music in the middle of our cul-de-sac now!"

Nick flashed his friendliest smile. "Ma'am, I'm afraid you've got it all wrong."

"No, that wild party you threw on Saturday was the last straw! Lewd laughter, drunken singers, people gettin' nasty in your hot tub."

"How could you see what was goin' on in my hot tub? You have a 1-story house, you couldn't possibly see into my pool area without a ladder and a pair of binoculars."

"Never you mind how I know, I just do!" With her arms firmly planted across her chest, LeAnn huffed, "When I was at Bunco last night, we decided that someone should tell you how we all feel." Cinching her fuzzy yellow bathrobe tighter, she stood tall. "Everyone else was scared, but I gladly volunteered, because I don't want my kids witnessin' gay orgies. First it was two of you livin' there and now it's three!"

"Wow." Nick postured in front of the judgmental bitch, but decided to take a breath and the high road. "Maybe if my partner and I had taken the time to introduce ourselves this wouldn't have happened, but we've been real busy with…"

"Of course we haven't had time to meet because you gay party boys go out at night and crawl home like vampires in the morning when decent people are going to work."

"Ma'am, my partner and I both work for the Las Vegas Police Department as Crime Scene Investigators." Although he wanted to strangle the woman, Nick handed over his work ID with a smile. "We work the graveyard shift Monday through Friday, midnight to eight am. That's why you see us leavin' at night and comin' home in the morning lookin' dog tired sometimes. We're not only law-abiding citizens, ma'am, we actually spend our nights nailin' people who break the law. My partner and I are in a serious, monogamous relationship with a ceremony scheduled for July, and that third so called party boy is my cousin Roy who just relocated here to attend UNLV and intern at the Crime Lab."

"Oh."

"Hey, but at least you can still bitch about us bein' gay," Nick snarked before turning to walk to his truck. "Thanks for that little slice of southern hospitality, it was just like bein' back home with my hypocritical and judgmental sisters!" Once he was behind the wheel, he screamed, "Bitch!" He slammed his fist on the steering wheel. "I'm startin' to think I shouldn't have gotten out of bed today." Then he remembered he still had to show Chloe his test results when he returned to the lab. "I can tell it's gonna be one of those shitty nights that just keeps gettin' worse."

* * *

"I'm having a great night!" Greg boasted to Sara. She was on her way out of the lab as he was on her way in. "How about you?" 

"Ecklie's my new boss because my husband is making my decisions for me now and I didn't have a say."

"It was actually Nick who begged Ecklie to be your boss so you could stay on Grave with us. Yeah, first Grissom wanted you to report to Catherine, but Ecklie wouldn't allow that and then Grissom got pissy and Ecklie said you had to move to Days. That's when Nick groveled to keep you."

"Grissom thought I would want to report to Catherine after she almost got me fired for bitching her out in the hallway?"

"Are you **still** ticked about that?" Greg laughed…until he sensed Sara was contemplating his death. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to get to autopsy and I fear if I don't leave soon, Doc will be examining my dead body. Bye!" He rushed for the lab entrance.

Sara stomped towards her Denali muttering, "This is going to be one of those shitty nights that just keeps getting worse."

* * *

**ANs: **

Thanks for your comments on the previous chapter and for being patient with my erratic posting schedule. : )

I hope you enjoyed Part 2 and the bits of angst for a little change of pace. Thanks for the comments below. I started to reply after posting and then life swamped me. I appreciate the people who answered my question and will use the feedback as I go forward.

The next chapter is on hold because I was reviewing story feedback/concerns and re-reading what I had written when I had free time instead of writing new stuff. With the Thanksgiving holiday this week, company coming to my house, my daughter's birthday this weekend and a holiday donation project underway, I have no time to finish a chapter. Maybe Tuesday the 27th at the earliest, but I don't want to rush, because the next few chapters are very emotional ones and I'd rather wait until I have the time to do it right. Thanks for understanding.

This will also give people who are behind a chance to catch up.

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating!

Maggs :-)Thanks to KJT for editing and to my hubby and Veronica10 for pre-reading : )

**Maggs **


	23. Chapter 23: The Politics of Dating and

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 23: The Politics of Dating and Marriage – Part 3**

Standing in front of the Breakroom coffee station, Greg excitedly fielded questions from the six curious lab rats gathered around him. "For our first **real **date we rented a golf cart, toured Catalina Island, and had a casual dinner at a seafood restaurant on the water." Feeling like the newly discovered lover of a hot celebrity, he couldn't stop smiling. "Then we returned to the boat and had a few cocktails under the stars. You'll have to use your imaginations from there, because I don't kiss and tell."

"Wow." Penny Silpada, a desperately single 32 year old who had once submitted Nick's name to the producers of the TV show The Bachelor, sighed into her coffee mug, "That sounds so romantic, but I'd expect nothing less from the Texan with a heart of gold."

"Hey!" Greg feigned offense, "**I **planned that date for your information. My parents took me to Catalina every year when I was a kid and I loved it. I wanted to share the experience with Nick so when we have a kid some day…"

"You're planning for kids?!" Hodges blurted from across the room where he was snacking on beef jerky. "Adoption or Turkey Baster?"

"Ooh!" Judy was dying to know the answer.

"Turkey baster to start, and if that doesn't work, we'll adopt." Greg blushed as he laughed, "Since I'm a DNA expert and Nick's a jock, I'm going to handle the samples and he's going to do the…"

"Jerking off?" Hodges held up his half-eaten Slim Jim. "Sorry, I blame my snack wrapper for giving me the idea." He pointed to the word 'JERKY'.

Jacqui left the group and strolled over to Hodges smirking, "You eating **JERK**y is a lot like cannibalism."

"Ignore him, Sanders!" Penny wanted to vicariously live her dream life with Nick. "Keep sharing juicy details with your old lab pals!"

Sitting on the couch with Henry, Mandy hoped to score some points with a musical reference. "This scene totally reminds me of the 'Summer Nights' scene in Grease. You know, the part when the Pink Ladies are gathered around Sandy as she dishes about her romantic times with Danny Zuko.

"Yes," Henry chuckled, "Greg even has Sandy's coloring and Nick has Danny's." He started humming the tune.

Head over heels for her man, Mandy stood up and burst into song to impress him with her lyrics knowledge, "Tell me more, tell me more, like did Nick have a car?!"

The group of geeks broke into laughter as their colleague entertained them with horrifically bad singing. .

"Tell me more, tell me more!" Mandy added a little shimmy walk, "Did he get very far?"

* * *

Nick wasn't three steps from his truck when he heard his name being shouted. "What now?" He turned to see who was calling him from across the lab parking lot. 

"Howdy, Bro!"

"No friggin' way." Nick couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his brother hustling over. "It's a crime to harass LVPD personnel in uniform and there are security cameras all over the place. Consider yourself warned."

"Relax, I'm not gonna touch ya." Chuck Stokes stood tall and used his five extra inches of height to remind his little brother of his size. "I'm out here on business and I figured if I called you wouldn't answer or call me back, so I decided to surprise you and wait for you to show up for your shift." He tapped his watch. "You're late."

"I came in early actually. I'm already returnin' from the field." Still in shock, Nick said, "What do you want from me?"

"You know damn well what I want." The politician decided to cut to the chase, "I want you and Greg to stay away from Dallas and not go public until after the election."

"Oh, is that all?" Nick barked, "It's May, asshole! My wedding is in July and your election is in November. I'm not livin' a lie another day, so seven months is out of the question."

"Look, I don't expect you to do shit for me, but think of your nieces and nephew. How can you intentionally fuck up their lives?" Knowing how much his brother loved kids, Chuck stayed the course, "What kind of example are you settin' by bein' a vindictive self-centered…"

"**What?!** How is me** lyin'** to their faces teachin' them anything good?!" After a gulp of air and two steps away from his nemesis, Nick said, "I'm gonna set a good example by not bein' ashamed of who I am and bein' honest even when it's not the easy thing to do. I have **16** nieces and nephews, and if one of them happens to be gay, then I want them to look at me and know that it's okay, that they're not alone…and they're not better off dead like you would have them believe."

"Be sure to explain that to my daughter when she's gettin' teased at school for havin' a fudge packin' uncle."

"We're done." Nick started walking.

"I'm gonna have her get on the phone and ask **you** to explain why her friends are callin' you a pillow biter!"

"Go ahead! I'll work in a lesson on diversity and tolerance, because I know she doesn't hear about that stuff at home!"

"For shit's sake, Nicky! You know I'm right!" Chuck shouted at his back. "You go public and turn my campaign into a circus, it'll be open season on every kid in the family! Her friends' conservative parents will start cancellin' play dates and makin' polite excuses to sit next to someone else at lunch!" When his brother stopped walking, he knew the tide was turning. "C'mon…you waited this long, why can't you wait 'til December?"

"December?" Turning to face his brother, Nick said, "So as long as the kids are harassed **after** you win the election, you're cool with it."

_Shit!_ Chuck couldn't believe he blew it right as his compassionate brother was about to agree for the childrens' sake.

"You sold past the close, Bro. You're as bad at sales as you are at politics." Nick enjoyed laughing at the jerk. "No deal."

"Is there anything I can do to get you to reconsider?"

As Nick was about to yell 'no', suddenly an idea popped into his head. "I want Roy to get his car back. Our dear aunt and uncle swindled him out of it. I want the car or the cash for him. If you get them to do that for him, I'll think about holdin' off for you."

"How much is the car worth?"

"Four grand."

"I just cashed out at the casino earlier." Pulling out his bulging billfold, Chuck counted out the hundred dollar bills his had. "You shoulda seen this lucky streak I had at the craps table. I've got $3400."

"That'll do." Nick held out his hand and when his fingers were wrapped tightly around the bills, he said, "As promised, I'll think about holdin' off."

"Good."

After stowing the cash in his pocket, Nick turned and walked four steps. "Hey, Chuck…"

"Yeah?"

"I thought about it…my answer is still no." As Chuck cursed up a storm, Nick coolly warned, "In Vegas, when somethin' seems too good to be true, it is."

* * *

"I know it seems too good to be true," Bobby excitedly told Greg, "but Roy and I hit it off from the moment we saw each other. We have** amazing** chemistry." 

"Does the age difference concern you?" Greg asked with Roy's words echoing in his head '_if I see a guy I like, I go for it, no hesitation'_. He worried that Bobby was falling hard for someone who would be moving on in a matter of weeks if not days.

"Sara and Grissom are 14 years apart."

"Dude! Sara's in her 30s, Roy can't even buy a beer for another 11 months. I'm not trying to burst your bubble, but the guy's just starting college. Do you even remember freshman year? He's going to meet a ton of people and…" Feeling bad for being a killjoy, Greg softened his voice and said, "Sorry, but you're my friend and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thank you, I appreciate your concern, I do, but I'm grown man and I'll be okay." Bobby flashed a reassuring smile in his friend's direction, "I know I have a better shot at winning the lottery than living happily ever after with Roy. The break up countdown clock started ticking the second we hooked up. I know he's gonna find someone younger and better than me one day. Hell, he could be findin' him tonight, but I've been in a rut for a long time and Roy's a nice change of pace. Even if things end tomorrow, I won't be losin', because bein' with him has given me my confidence back."

"So the sex is hot and you're getting plenty of quality time in the top spot."

"You have no idea!" Bobby's Okalahoma boy laughter rattled the glass walls. "I'm honestly surprised that I had the energy to dress myself and drive to work." Thrilled to finally have someone at work he could talk to about his unconventional love life, he shared, "It's like Justin Taylor walked out of my TV screen and into my bed!"

"He does resemble him, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but I'm no Brian, I'm not gonna take my Justin for granted."

"I can totally relate." Enjoying the camaraderie, Greg shared, "I'm marrying the star quarterback, remember? Me, the president of the Chess Club. It's so Beauty and the Geek."

"Exactly!" Getting hot just thinking about it, the ecstatic man boasted, "It really is incredible. All Roy and I have done for the last 48 hours is screw, shower and eat, and we only stopped to eat so we would have energy to screw some more." He snickered, "And we really didn't stop, we just moved the action into the kitchen. Chocolate frosting never tasted sweeter."

"My jock won't let me incorporate empty carbs and sugar into our sex life." Shaking his head, Greg said, "Get this – one night right after I made him see stars, I stood up and handed him the tube of flavored gel I had used on him. The carb counting manic paused to read the label, and when he saw it was crap, he started giving me the empty calorie lecture."

"What did you do?" Bobby asked with a chuckle.

"I grabbed the tube of sinful sugar from his hand, used it to make a 3-pointer into the trash, and then pushed him to his knees saying, '150 mg of pure protein coming right up!' Before he knew what hit him, I shoved it in and growled, 'Lecture over'." While enjoying the stunned look on his co-worker's face, Greg inwardly laughed at the real memory of him agreeing to never buy the stuff again and whimpering for Nick to stop talking and finish him off.

"Wow." It was really hard to picture Greg Sanders being so dominant. "That sounds hot." It was equally hard to picture Nick being that submissive. Wow." While having a hard time visualizing the two men in opposite roles, Bobby suddenly realized he was hard from trying to visualize it. Luckily the counters in the lab were tall enough to hide wood.

"Doh!" For effect, Greg slapped himself upside the head. "I'm not supposed to kiss and tell, so can you keep the overshare between us?" That way Nick wouldn't find out he had been compelled to brag about something that never happened.

"I think that's the least I can do since you didn't tell Nick about me and Roy."

"**Only** because you promised to tell him yourself and that you'd both act like I didn't know if he finds out accidentally."

"I promise, I'll tell him. Just as soon as I…"

"Have enough sex to make it through the next drought?"

"No," the horny man huffed even though the assumption was partially true.

"Just kidding." Greg gave him a pat on the back. "You really shouldn't sell yourself short with Roy, because you're a great catch." Madly in love and never happier, he wanted everyone to find what he had. "You're a mature, responsible guy with a job and a house, and he's a poor kid that was kicked out of his home by his father." He teased, "Maybe it'll last longer than you think, Daddy-O."

* * *

"Hey, Stokes!" When he got close, Warrick quietly teased his buddy, "Are you spying on the little woman?" 

"What?" Realizing he had been doing just that, Nick replied, "No, um…for a second I thought Bobby was givin' Greg shit, but I realized I was wrong."

While watching the two men laughing only a foot apart from each other in the huge Ballistics lab, Warrick said, "Good thing Bobby's straight, 'cause he's in your wife's personal space. Now I know why you were tense when I walked over here."

"You think I'm jealous?"

"Are you?"

"No," Nick huffed, "I have complete faith in my partner."

"Must be nice." The relationship-weary man nodded and started walking down the empty hallway, but stopped and turned after only three steps. "Hey…just because my wife and every woman I was involved with before her were lying bitches who ended up slicing me deep, doesn't mean Greg will do the same to you. That was my baggage talkin'. Sorry."

"No problem." Nick closed the gap between them. "At least things are goin' well with Cath now." When he saw his friend wince, he asked, "Did something happen?"

Thinking it might help to talk to someone, Warrick waved his friend into the Layout Room across from Ballistics. "I kinda messed things up on Saturday night."

"Really?" Forgetting his own problems for a moment, Nick asked, "Whatdya do?"

"Nah, it's what I** didn't** do that ticked her off." Ever since helping his friends move into their new house, Warrick hadn't feel comfortable spending time alone trading personal information with Nick because he got the feeling it tweaked Greg. It felt great to have his best friend back, even though he technically never really went away. "She wanted me to say something definitive about our future together and I couldn't. She got pissed and I ended up saying that I never should have started dating her, but I meant it in a good way."

"Huh?" It was hard to imagine the statement being positive. "How the hell can 'I never should have dated you' ever be good?"

"Yeah, that was Cath's reaction too; only she used more colorful language." After tightly folding his arms across his chest, the depressed CSI explained, "I was trying to say that she was too special to be the woman I hooked up with on the rebound. That I wish I had waited to date her, because I'm not ready to make any promises or declarations and I probably won't be for a while. My inability to do that has nothin' to do with her and everything to do with me being shit on by the bitches before her. I'm still bleeding from Tina and I was tired of licking my own wounds, man."

"And you thought Cath lickin' other parts of you would make that pain go away?"

"Stupid, I know." Warrick shook his head, "I shoulda done what most depressed people do - drown my sorrows in a bottle or take pills. I had no business jumpin' into a relationship that soon, even with a great friend, **especially** with a great friend. I messed up our friendship and we have to work together for who knows how many years."

"Why are you talkin' like it's forever?" Nick pushed out an optimistic smile. "You had a fight, big deal; you'll make up and get back on track."

"I don't think that's gonna happen."

"Why?"

"Mainly because she kicked me out of her bed and told me never to call her, touch her, or look at her again unless it was job related."

"Oh." Nick scratched his head as he desperately thought of an explanation that would leave room for hope. "Hey, is she on the rag by any chance? Or PMS'ing? Because my sisters used to say some pretty nasty shit to me and each other during certain times of the month, but as soon as the hormonal surge ended, they'd apologize and feel terrible for bein' so brutal."

"Nah, that's not it. She told me she rarely gets it anymore."

"Right! She's 44. She's probably in pre-Menopause." Nick gave an all-knowing nod. "Maybe she was feelin' crabby and..."

"Maybe it was just me being an asshole."

"C'mon, man…you have issues. If you sit down and talk it out…"

"Hey, I really appreciate what you're doing, but it's over. You gotta let it go. I have."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah." Warrick shrugged. "Just like that. Tell Greg for me and ask him not to bring it up, okay?"

"Okay, but…" Not buying the flippancy, Nick continued to press the matter, "I don't think you were on the rebound. I think you went for what you've wanted for a long, long time, and you got it, but that scared the crap out of you. As much as you wanted Catherine, I think you didn't want to risk your heart again. I think you purposely pissed her off so she'd dump you now and save you any potential pain later."

"It was more like me chewin' off my own foot to get free from a trap." The cynic released a heavy sigh, "After the divorce, I just don't have it in me to start from scratch again with someone and invest that much of myself. I'm done with relationships."

"But you two are like Greg and me – you've known each other for almost a decade. You didn't have to start from scratch, findin' out her favorite color and all that shit. You already know that stuff."

"I don't know her favorite color." Warrick tested his Mr. Romance, "What's Greg's favorite color?"

"Amber."

"Amber?"

"Yeah." Nick smiled, "You didn't really expect somethin' normal, did you? His grandma was a psychic and she wore an amber pendant because she believed amber attracted positive energy. She told Greg that it had healing properties and one of the things it could do was help a person balance their aggressive traits. He really believes all that stuff. After my outburst here at the lab, he bought me a piece of amber in a little gem shop on Catalina Island and told me to carry it in my pocket when I'm working."

"Isn't that sweet."

"I thought so."

"Do you have it in your pocket?" Warrick asked to see if the hopeless romantic was following through.

Nick reached in and produced the stone. "When I get home, I take it out and put it on top of my ID badge. Then when it's time to go to work, I never forget it." Softening his voice, he stepped closer and tried once more, "I think I know just how Cath felt. Even though the two of you had just started dating, she already felt really close, that's why she wanted to hear something definitive from you. She wasn't pushin' for a commitment; she just had feelings and figured they were mutual. It's hard when one person is more open and eager than the other. It didn't take long for me to say the L word to Greg, because I'd been fallin' for him for years. Luckily he felt the same way." He gave his buddy a gentle shove. "Go talk to Cath, tell her you're sorry. If you wear your heart out on your sleeve…"

"God, you really are a hopeless romantic, you know that."

"Always."

"The problem is I'm not you and you're not me. You haven't been burned like I have…and you're a dreamer, not a realist."

"How am I not realistic?"

"You need an example?"

"Yeah," Nick replied, getting ruffled.

"I'm saying this as your friend, alright?" Warrick risked being honest, "You went from straight guy to Greg's Guy without any gay experiences in between, and you think you're gonna monogamously live happily ever after. I think you're dreaming. No one else has the balls to say that to your face, but believe me, I'm not the only one thinkin' it."

The words stung and to hear them coming from a good friend's mouth made the pain worse. "Is there a pool?"

"You know there's a pool about everything that goes on in this place."

"What are you down for?" Nick planted his hands on his hips. "6 months? A year?"

"Two weeks."

"Two weeks of marriage?" The lack of faith was shocking. "You think I'm gonna leave Greg **two weeks** after I marry him?"

"No, two weeks** before**," Warrick somberly clarified. "I think you're gonna realize that it's too much too soon. I think you're gonna wake up one day before the wedding and say 'I'm about to marry the only guy I ever kissed and permanently give up the opportunity to know what other men are like' and that's gonna freak you out."

"Wow." Nick shook his head faster as his ire grew. "I've been with a lot of women, because none of 'em felt right. If I had been born straight, I know I'd be married with three kids by now. My mom was a virgin when she married my dad and they're about to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Commitment is in my DNA. I don't need to screw strangers to know I'm marryin' the right guy. I feel it in my heart. Just because you don't wanna give up the privilege to sleep around, doesn't mean I feel the same way. Sex isn't more important to me than love."

"So you're admitting that your love life might be less than ideal, but you've chosen to settle for what you have instead of testing the waters?"

"That's not what I said," Nick protested. "Wait…you made it crystal clear that you wouldn't be able to discuss my love life like we used to before you knew I was gay. What happened?"

"I'm makin' progress because I want to be a good friend."

"Or misery loves company and the opportunity to bring me down is appealing enough to outweigh your disgust."

"That's probably true too, but it doesn't make what I'm saying any less valid. You said a lot of shit about Tina under the guise of being my friend."

"I was right."

"It's too soon to say that I'm wrong." Feeling his intentions were misunderstood, Warrick said, "I'm a concerned friend who knows you spent most of your life living a lie because of your family and the pressure to keep their approval. I think anyone in that position, regardless of values, would feel like they were cheated out of part of their life. I think it's natural to want that part back and you're not gonna get that chance if you marry Greg four months after kissing him. I think once you're more comfortable with being out, that you might not need Greg as much as you did when you were coming out. He's safe. Safe may not always be appealing. That's honestly how I see things, not me tryin' to bring you down with me. I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Fair enough, but to quote you…I'm not you and you're not me." Nick tried to shake off some of his defensiveness. "We've always been great friends, but really different people. I'm 35 and I want a family with at least one kid. The last thing I want or need to do is to spend a couple more years havin' meaningless one-night stands. I'm not delusional, I know I could find someone hotter to screw on Saturday night, but I also know that I'm not gonna find someone better to share my life with than Greg, so there's no need to test the waters. I'm marryin' my best friend. Who better to marry?"

Speaking from experience, the divorced man said, "When Tina and I started having problems in the sack, it was all downhill from there. I guess I'm thinkin' of that when I hear you say you could find someone better in bed. If the sex is bad now…"

"No, you misunderstood." In spite of his stress, Nick cracked a glorious smile. "When I said find someone hotter, I was only referring to body type, not that I could find someone more skilled. Contrary to what you may think, I am a realist. I know Greg isn't the buffest gay man in town."

"Oh."

Afraid that he had sold his lover short, Nick pushed past his discomfort to explain, "I'm not lyin'. Greg and I have a very active, imaginative, and **balanced** love life."

"Balanced?" Warrick hoped it meant something other than taking turns in the driver's seat, because the idea of his best friend letting Greg Sanders give it to him was unfathomable.

"Balanced." Since avoiding or denying the truth would mean slighting his man, Nick took a deep breath and answered, "It means exactly what you're hopin' it doesn't mean."

Nervous laughter echoed in the small room. "I guess I've made less progress than I thought." Warrick tried to block the image and failed miserably. "I think it wouldn't be so hard for me to handle if you weren't granting access to Greg." He attempted a joke, "Don't get me wrong, it would be a lot worse if it were Grissom or Hodges."

"For me especially." They laughed loud enough to rattle the glass walls and then Nick said, "I'm thrilled with my love life. I wouldn't lie to you."

Still struggling with what he just learned, Warrick tried not to seem too uncomfortable, "I'm gonna dig deep, be mature, and tell myself it's a normal expression of love between two consenting adult men and nothin' about you has changed. You're still the same guy." He deadpanned, "Except for walkin' a little funny every other day."

"Every other day, huh? You think we're on a schedule?" Nick laughed, thrilled to have the friendship back on track after a minor derailment.

"I don't know how you guys work it out." The straight man anxiously laughed. "The gambler in me thinks you figure it out by flipping a coin."

"It works just like it does in male/female relationships. The position and tone of the love makin' depends on the mood of both people involved."

"Okay, yeah…I officially can't think about that activity anymore. To quote Greggo – I'm squicked."

"How can you be squicked out by a sex act that you've done to women plenty of times?" Nick gave an all-knowing nod. "Remember that trip to Cancun in 2000? The walls were very thin in that condo we rented. I heard you enjoyin' it first hand."

"C'mon, Nicky, it's different when it's a man givin' it to a woman. Way different."

"Why?" The reply came in the form of a Jan Sanders quote. "Because it's an inferior act and women are inferior to men?"

After an awkward pause, Warrick replied, "You're makin' me sound like a jerk."

"Hey, all I did was ask a question."

"It's not the act I have a problem with, it's that two guys are doin' it."

"So if a chick wears a strap-on, you're cool with being on the receivin' end?"

"No, but if another guy wants a girl to do that to him, then…" Warrick burst out laughing. "Okay, yeah, you got me, I'd think that guy was a closet queer."

Before Nick could reply, Greg opened the Layout Room door.

"Hey." Surprised to see his lover and Warrick holed up in a corner of the room, Greg stood behind Nick and said, "Am I interrupting?"

Considering the conversation, the sight of Greg standing behind Nick made Warrick glance away and head for the door. "Nope. We just finished." At the door he turned and joked with his friend, "Thanks for setting me straight, Stokes."

"Any time," Nick laughed with his buddy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the anxious boyfriend queried as soon as Warrick shut the door. "Why did he bolt when I came in? Why were you laughing? Were you guys laughing at me?"

"Chill out, baby." But it was too late, Greg was already spiraling into insecurity. "If anyone should be jealous here it's me over you and Bobby bein' cozied up in Ballistics just now."

"You were spying on me?" Greg replied with a twinge of discomfort.

"No, the walls are glass and I saw you when I was walkin' by. "Nick stepped closer and leaned on the layout table in front of his agitated mate. "Bobby's a gun guy and the straightest man in the lab, so I'm hardly worried that he'll try to steal you from me." A sweet chuckle tumbled off his lips as he thought of Hetero Bobby making moves on Greg. "Even if he was gay, I doubt you'd be his type."

"Why wouldn't I be his type?" the insecure geek asked with an edge in his voice. "Hmm? Why?"

Looking for an escape, Nick pulled his HIV results out of his pocket. "Sorry, honey, I don't have time to talk hypotheticals, because I have a real confrontation to get to."

When his lover was almost at the door, Greg muttered, "Funny how you weren't in a rush when Warrick was talking to you."

"Here we go." Knowing exactly what was ahead, Nick released his grip on the doorknob and turned to face his tweaked fiancé. "What now?"

"The two of you just did it again."

"Did what again?"

"Made me feel like the outsider who's not cool enough to be in on the joke. I was so invisible, he practically walked through me."

"That's your overactive and overly paranoid imagination talking again."

"What?" His old sensitivities flaring, Greg couldn't stop himself from getting pissy. "The second I came in here, he couldn't wait to leave. Then he acts like I'm not here and says 'thanks for setting me straight, Stokes' and laughs. It was obviously an inside joke."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you both laughed and wouldn't tell me why."

"G, no matter what I say, you're gonna…"

"Bobby D's gay."

Nick froze while forming a word, so his mouth remained open.

"He got divorced because his wife found out what he was hiding. That's why she got full custody of their kid and why he moved out here from Oklahoma."

"Seriously?"

"Yep." Still smarting from the earlier comments, Greg bristled, "I may not be cool enough to be in your inner circle with Warrick, but Bobby doesn't mind talkin' to me."

"Would you stop with the exclusionary bullshit. I'm allowed to have a friendship with Warrick that's on a different level than your friendship with him. You're closer with Sara than I am, do you see me mopin' around actin' like I feel left out?"

"Why would you want to be a part of the geek squad when you're BMOC?"

Just as Nick was about to yell, Judy opened the door.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything personal." She handed a note to Greg. "Grissom said forget what he told you to do and do this instead." After handing over the note, she smiled at her favorite cowboy. "I heard all about your romantic first date on Catalina Island…the golf cart tour, dinner under the stars, and drinks on the deck of The Love Boat. Your wedding plans sound fantastic too. I've never been to Malibu, so I hope I get an invite. And I'm dying to stow away in your suitcase when you go to Maui on your honeymoon." _And when we get there, I'll tie up Greg and make you remember why you like girls. _

"When did you hear all that, Judy?" Nick asked, trying to mask his irritation.

"I wasn't snooping," she stated, wanting to clear her reputation. "I swear! Your lover was volunteering the information in the Breakroom. Right, Greg?"

The reply was stated in an anxious squeak. "Yeah."

"Don't worry, Nick, he didn't kiss and tell. But thankfully he gave us just enough information to fill in the sexy blanks!" She giggled on her way to the door. "I've already volunteered to coordinate your Breakroom baby shower when you make a Turkey Baster baby!" _I'd gladly volunteer to collect your seed too. I'd even have the baby for you if you agreed to conceive the old fashioned way._

"That's really sweet, but we won't be tryin' for a while. Thanks." When the door shut, Nick snapped at his loose-lipped lover, "I can't believe you told those gossip junkies every detail of our relationship!"

"I didn't," Greg tried to gulp down the lump in his throat, "I answered a few questions, gave an overview and a timeline to satisfy their curiosity, and…and did a little bragging."

"What the hell were you thinkin'?!"

"I don't get why you're surprised. You're the one who said he wanted to hang pictures in his locker and discuss his family at work. Isn't that one of the main reasons we came out tonight? So we could act normal."

"My idea of discussing **family **isn't gathering a crowd and tellin' 'em how we made out under the stars! It sounds like you stopped just short of tellin' them I took your gayginity!" When he saw his lover glance down, Nick's shock tripled. "You told them I took your ass cherry in Catalina?!"

"No!" Staring at the floor, Greg quietly replied, "But from the way I was waxing nostalgic and gushing, I think they guessed you were my first time."

Mortified that his co-workers knew about one of the most intimate experiences of his life, Nick gripped his hair with both hands. "I can't believe you! Close friends and family are one thing, but not the masses!"

"It's not like I painted you in a bad light!"

"That's not the point, G!"

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! But Mandy was singing Summer Nights and Hodges kept accusing me of making stuff up because a guy as hot and as cool as you wouldn't be that into me." Glancing up, Greg sweetly admitted, "I finally had something spectacular to share and I got carried away."

"Fine. But don't ever do it again, because I have a reputation to maintain around here and I can't do that if you're geekin' out in the Breakroom every shift."

"Seriously?" Greg stuffed his arms across his chest. "That's so Breakfast Club. You'll be my boyfriend on Saturday night, but you don't want any of the popular kids to know about us on Monday morning."

"Are you insane? I'm **marrying **you!" Nick pointed to his right hand. "I'm wearin' your damn band. How the hell can you think I'm hidin' our relationship when I just went public?! And if anyone is trapped in a high school, Mr. Breakfast Club…you're the one who couldn't wait to run here and brag about his jock boyfriend."

Greg silently wondered how that could be a bad thing.

"You're always accusin' me of shit, so now it's my turn - how do I know you're not with me just because it ups your credibility to date a hot jock?"

"Ego much?"

Nick tossed up his hands. "I'm not the one who gathered a crowd to brag about his boyfriend."

"Of course not, because you think your boyfriend's pathetic." Deep down the insecure geek knew he was being ridiculous, but after years of feeling inferior, he couldn't stop his paranoia. "Silly me, I thought you didn't want to kiss my ass because you were worried about germs, but it's really about my ass being unworthy."

"You're bringin' that up **again**? We just settled it in the damn parking lot."

"I bet you'd have no problem kissing Warrick's perfect ass."

"Hey!"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up!"

Greg shrieked, "Did you just tell me to shut up?"

"Yeah, because you're making a friggin' fool out of yourself." While taking a deep breath, Nick reached into his pocket to squeeze the small amber rock. "You're** so** far off base about what I was sayin' to 'Rick, I guarantee you'll feel like an asshole when you hear the truth."

On the off chance his partner was right, Greg remained silent.

"First off we came in here because 'Rick and Cath broke up on Saturday night and he needed someone to talk to about it **in private**. Unlike you, he doesn't like the details of his inter-office relationship to be shared in the Breakroom."

"They broke up?" The news came as a shock.

"Yeah." Nick leaned against the table and finished, "And while we were talkin' about relationships, he told me he thinks it's a big mistake for me to jump into marriage without having any other gay experiences. I told him he was wrong and I shared why I was confident about my decision. I even told him that we started to switch things up in the bedroom."

Greg snapped his neck to look up and into his partner's eyes. "You told Warrick you let me…"

"Yeah, I told him I was thrilled with our active, imaginative and **balanced **love life, and that I didn't need to date other guys, because life doesn't get any better than marryin' the guy who can rock my world in bed and be my best friend. That's what he meant by 'thanks for settin' me straight'. See, you were right, it was an inside joke, but in your** defense**, not at your expense." Seeing remorse fanning across his lover's face, Nick said, "I don't know why 'Rick bolted when you walked in, but I'd guess he didn't want you to ask about Catherine and have to get into the whole thing again. Or maybe he was a little uncomfortable seein' us together after talkin' about what we do in the bedroom. What I do know is, it wasn't because of this dumbass non-existent good 'ol boys club exclusionary rule that exists only in your paranoid mind."

Greg cringed from head to toe.

"Feelin' like an asshole yet?"

The guilty boyfriend nodded his lowered head.

"Good." Nick glared at his lover. "Now to answer your stupid question - I wouldn't kiss Warrick's ass even if it was guaranteed germ-free. I wouldn't bottom for him or drop to my knees for him either…or anyone else for that matter. The **only **reason I feel comfortable doin' intensely intimate things with you is because I love you more than I thought it was possible to love another human being. Does that make you feel better, asshole?"

"I'm sorry," Greg whispered, feeling worse by the minute.

"You better be." Nick waved his HIV results. "I need to run this paper over to Chloe and get back to work." Walking to the door, he remembered how he ended up talking to Warrick in the first place. "Because I trust you, I'm not gonna ask why you were sharin' two square feet of space with **Gay** Bobby or why the two of you were havin' a grand 'ol time in that two square feet." But when he reached the door his curiosity got the best of him. "I will ask this…did the two of you ever fool around before we got together?"

"No." Greg vehemently shook his head. "I told you I wasn't very active."

"MmmHmm." Nick couldn't stop the words he didn't want to say. "But Roy let it slip that you went from guy to guy in the back room of some dance club every night for the better part of a year, so I'm not sure I know your past very well."

"I guess we know who not to trust with a secret." Embarrassment fit snugly on top of a layer of guilt. "Not that it was really a secret, just an incredibly embarrassing period of my life that I didn't want to share with you in great detail because it would only make me feel more pathetic around you. I alluded to it with you, but I shared the details with Roy because I knew he'd understand the scene and how I got caught up in it when I was hurting from being dumped. Thanks for throwing it back in my face when I already feel bad."

"I was making a valid point."

"Did you ask him if I talked about having sex with guys back then?" From the look on his partner's face, Greg knew the answer was yes. "Unbelievable."

"After hearing about the club guys, I thought for just a second.…"

"A second too long." His emotions bubbling up inside, Greg's voice cracked. "You thought I was faking that day on The Freyja?"

"I'm serious; it was a split second of paranoia, G. I didn't have time to think anything through. It was obvious you weren't faking." Exhausted from arguing, Nick sighed, "I went home and found Roy watching porn, which turned out to be your porn that I didn't know you subscribed to, and then a few minutes later I found out you were blowin' 3 guys a night and doin' some drugs and the guys in the movie were doin' what I wouldn't do to you and suddenly I wondered what else I didn't know about you. I'm sorry."

"It was 5 guys a night and a lot of drugs." Emotionally drained and embarrassed, Greg's eyes welled. "You know that annoying overtalking habit I have? After Lacey cheated on me, I tried dating, but I was ten times as nervous as I was before being cheated on, and every time I went out with someone, I drove them away in the first half hour."

Seeing tears building in his partner's eyes, Nick felt terrible for being harsh.

"I got up the nerve to go to Club Zodiac one night. It was this huge club, totally overwhelming." Greg could see the dance floor and hear the music in his mind. "I met this guy and after a half hour of me rambling and looking like an idiot on the dance floor, he pulled me into the back room, shoved me to my knees and said 'I think you'll be much more appealing with your mouth too full to talk'." Turning his back on Nick and the glass walls of the Layout Room, he wiped his tears as they fell. "When I was done, he patted me on the head and laughed saying, 'Good Boy. That was the only time I enjoyed your company tonight. If I were you, and thank God I'm not, I'd stay off the dance floor and on my knees. You're positively charming with a mouthful of spunk'. As a tip, he gave me a popper. The next thing I knew, a year had passed."

"G…" Nick reached out, but remembered he was at work and dropped his hand.

"So, yeah, as stupid, self-indulgent, and unprofessional as it was, I stood in the Breakroom tonight and bragged about how perfect our first date was and I shared** way** too many details of our love life. You don't even know this part…since Bobby's gay, I knew I could get graphic and not squick him out, so I told him all these graphic anecdotes about us…about me rocking your world and you being my grateful submissive. Tonight was the first time I've had someone in my life to brag about to the masses since Lacey. It felt awesome." Greg flicked away the next round of tears. "And then as ridiculous as it sounds, I got jealous of Warrick **again**, because even though you're wearing my ring and marrying me, there's a little part of me that refuses to believe you're for real."

"How can you think that?" Nick whispered, moving closer.

"Because you do stuff that reminds me that I'm still that loser on his knees in the back room."

"Like what?"

"Like how you wouldn't dance with me last night after Roy left his music on and went out. I couldn't get anyone at Zodiac to dance with me unless I agreed to blow him after ten minutes. "

Forgetting about the glass walls, Nick stepped forward and placed his hands on his partner's shoulders and squeezed. "Honey, I'm…"

The sound of the Layout Room door flying open startled both men.

"Greg!" Grissom barked, "You were supposed to be on the road ten minutes ago and when you get back, you have a bag of decomp to process."

"Sorry, Griss."

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" The boss shifted his eyes from man to man. "You both assured me that your relationship wouldn't interfere with work, but here you are together while work isn't getting done."

Grateful for the reprieve, Greg kept his head down and held up his assignment slip. "I'm on my way."

Kicking himself for being a hardass even when he was right, Nick turned and watched his partner rush down the hall. "Sorry," he exhaled.

"Apology accepted," Grissom barked, "now get to work."

"I wasn't apologizin' to you, that was for Greg." Nick snarked, "Like you should talk about office romances getting in the way of work. Pfft." Walking out of the room, he grumbled, "You and Sara had blow out an hour ago."

* * *

"It's about time you showed up," Vartann greeted Sara with a smile as she stepped out of her truck. 

"Traffic." She slammed the door shut.

"Who peed in your Cheerios?"

"Grissom."

"Uh oh." Vartann led the way. "What's the problem?"

"I married him." Sara stood behind the detective as he rapped on the door.

"You guys got hitched?" He couldn't imagine it lasting. "Detective Vartann LVPD! I need to speak to Linda Keller."

When the door opened and Sara saw a petite 30-something red-haired woman, she relaxed and removed her hand off her weapon.

"I'm Detetive Vartann and this is Sara Sid…Grissom of..."

"Sidle."

"Sorry." Vartann restarted, "This is Sara Sidle of the Las Vegas Crime Lab and we're here to question you regarding the murder of Mike Rodgers, do you know the…"

"I killed him," the woman announced as she stepped out of her home and shut the door. "I'm ready to go to the station."

Surprised by the turn of events, Vartann stammered, "Um, are you…okay…well, that was easy enough." He glanced over at Sara. "Let's go, Mrs. Keller."

"Why did you kill him?" Sara queried on the way to squad car waiting at the curb.

"Because he physically and mentally abused my sister, his wife, for years and then he made her murder look like an accident and he got away with it."

The reply hit too close to home for Sara on a day when marital problems and controlling husbands were already weighing heavily on her mind.

"Sounds like a really good reason to me," Vartann sighed as he opened the squad car door. "But unfortunately not a legal reason and on the record I have to advise people not to take the law into their own hands." He instructed the cop, "She's voluntarily coming in for questioning."

After watching the squad car drive away, Sara said, "You're married, Vartann."

"Yeah."

"Happily?"

"Sure," he lied. Checking his watch, he counted the minutes until he rendezvoused with a 23 year old card dealer named Trent that he had met the other night. "I'm a real family guy."

* * *

"Are you married?" Tawny giggled into the well-dressed party guest's ear. She and four of her co-workers had been hired to give lap dances at a large private party for some local politician and she was trying to make at least two grand by the end of the night. 

"Do you see a ring on my finger?" the 40 year old married father of three asked the buxom blonde on his lap. "Now how about you stop askin' questions, Sugar, and start grindin'."

"Are you a good tipper?" she cooed in his ear.

"Unfortunately I gave all of my large bills to my pain in the ass little brother, but I could make a stop at the ATM downstairs on the way to my limo…and there's more back in my hotel room." Locking eyes on the babe, he growled, "Do you do anything for a living besides dance?"

"Are you propositioning me, cowboy?"

"Maybe."

"Are you a cop?"

"No, ma'am," Chuck Stokes laughed, "that's my little brother's line of work. He's the good brother…I'm the bad boy of the family."

"I like bad boys," Tawny purred as she slinked over the Armani suit before her. "**Some** bad boys."

"Which ones?"

"The ones who have cash and aren't afraid to part with it."

"Let's go, Miss Kansas." She had told him she was a former Kansas beauty queen. "I'm gonna show you a real good time."

* * *

"I want to show him the time of his life," Nick told Catherine as they shifted through glass fragments on the side of the road. They had been sent to process a 5-car pile up just outside of Boulder City. "Do you think your mother would be able to help?" 

"Are you kidding?" Catherine nodded, "My mother adores Greg."

"What's not to adore?"

"I could list ten things easy."

"Okay, yeah, so could I, but the good things outweigh the bad by far." With every minute that passed, he felt a little worse about his words to Greg earlier that night and he couldn't wait to see him at home later and cheer him up.

Still hurting from breaking up with Warrick, she struggled to stay upbeat. "My mother wakes up at six every morning. I'll call her at six thirty after she's had a cup of coffee."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Not only did he want Lily's help to get a party room and a VIP suite at the casino, he wanted her to advise him on 1960s Vegas, so he could create the most authentic retro atmosphere imaginable.

"So this date extravaganza you're planning…is it because you're in the dog house trying to get out, or are you paying it forward?"

"I'm tryin' to prove once and for all that I'm not ashamed he's my boyfriend and that I have no problem dancing with him."

"You **still **haven't danced with him?!" she blasted. "Jesus Christ, Nicky, I told you to dance with the poor guy over a month ago."

"I know and I shoulda listened."

"Men…pfft."

Since Catherine hadn't told him about the break up, Nick felt like he couldn't say anything.

"I'll be at the party."

"No, no you can't."

"You're inviting 50 strangers, but I can't be there?"

"It'll be weird to have you there." He laughed, "50 gay guys and you. That's weird."

She muttered, "It'll be relaxing to be at a party full of gay men. I won't be under date pressure." When her friend glanced over, she shifted her gaze, "He told you, huh?"

"Yeah." Feeling sorry for her, Nick sweetly said, "I told him he's makin' a huge mistake."

"Thanks, Nicky." She flicked away an unwelcomed tear. "I think he is too."

* * *

**ANs: **

I hope everyone had a good week and for those celebrating - a nice Turkey Day! I had a bout of insomnia so I managed to finish this chapter earlier than planned and KJT was gracious enough to jump online and edit it all. So my thank you to everyone who posted comments on the last one is an early chapter!

While the boys did fight, they are communicating while people all around them are shutting each other down and out. I wanted it to be one of those chapters where everyone was partly wrong and partly right. Warrick has valid points about Nick, and Nick has some valid points about Warrick's issues, and Greg is being a broken record/pain in the ass, but at the same time he's kind of right that Nick keeps making him feel unworthy in very passive aggressive ways (i.e. not dancing when he knows Greg wants to dance).

Tawny and Nick's brother...that can't be good. It didn't work out very well in the parallel universe either!

There's a lot going on in this one and some set up for future ones. If you have an specific questions/concerns, email. Thanks!

FYI - Greg's story to Bobby "I grabbed the tube of sinful sugar from his hand, used it to make a 3-pointer into the trash can, and then pushed him to his knees saying…" was intended to mirror the type of story Nick used to tell Greg back at the beginning of Where You Are. He learned from the master!

The next chapter is titled – Life In and Out of the Dog House but I'm not sure when I'll have it done yet. Hopefully by the weekend.

Thanks to everyone who left feedback and motivational comments. Tis the season for being extra busy, so it definitely helps to know there are readers out there waiting on the next chapter. It's harder to slack that way! LOL

**Maggs **


	24. Chapter 24: Life In and Out of the Dog H

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 24: Life in and out of the Dog House **

Taking a break for the first time in six hours, Catherine peeled off her latex gloves and leaned against the Denali, "Rough night, huh, Nicky?"

"Brutal." The five car pile up had left three people dead, including a child, and seven people critically injured. "At least we were able to piece together what happened after all that effort." It was always easier to deal with the exhaustion if he had found answers in the process rather than going home spent and still clueless.

"I'll make that call to my mother that we discussed if you'll go find me some coffee…good coffee."

"You got a deal." Smiling, Nick stowed his camera in the back of the truck. "I remember seein' a café in that strip mall down the road." He fished for his cell phone from his jacket. "I could use the fresh air, so I'll walk."

"Checking in with the wife?"

"No comment," he laughed. Upon opening his phone, Nick saw a text message had come in while he had been occupied on the scene. It was from Greg, and the words had a smile on his face in a flash '_Sorry for being such an oversharing dweeb. Still love me?_' It was remarkably close to the message he had texted to Greg hours earlier '_Sorry for being such an uptight jerk. Still wearing my ring?_'

While walking to the café, Nick texted his answer.

* * *

'_Of course I still love you.'_ Sitting in the locker room smelling like lemons instead of decomp, Greg snapped a photo of the commitment band on his finger and sent it to Nick. 

"Did you just take a picture of your hand?" Warrick asked, popping open his locker.

"Yeah." Feeling awkward because he knew his coworker had told Nick he was making a mistake jumping into a monogamous relationship, Greg remained silent.

"What are those pictures from?"

"Huh?"

"On your locker." Warrick pointed. "Those are new, right?"

"Yeah." Reminding himself not to geek out, Greg nodded. "Nick hung them up there before I came in. We couldn't have pictures up when we weren't out."

"You guys look happy."

"We are." Greg couldn't suppress the urge to set the record straight. "And in spite of what some people may think, we're gonna stay that way…for the long haul…it's the real deal."

"Good." Warrick grabbed his jacket and shut his locker. "I'm happy for you."

The words didn't heed Greg's plea to stay put on his tongue. "No you're not."

"What?"

Immediately intimidated by his burly co-worker, Greg clammed up.

"You obviously have something on your mind, so let me hear it."

"That's okay. It wasn't important."

"Spit it out, Sanders."

"Okay, if you insist." Greg anxiously glanced up at the man looming over him. "I think that you probably kinda think that maybe I'm not…" He opted against 'worthy'. "…the right guy for your best friend. I think you're dealing okay with Nick being out, but you have a hard time with it being me he wants to spend the rest of his life with and I want to believe it's not personal, but I kinda feel like it is, and I've been reluctant to ask why…because I'm afraid the answer will hurt."

"You think it's a white thing?" Warrick joked.

"No." Greg laughed until he realized his African American co-worker wasn't. "Is it?"

"I was yankin' your chain."

"I knew that."

"No, you didn't." Warrick took a seat next to jittery friend. "Look…this whole thing has been a lot for me to deal with really fast. Nicky and I went on vacations together, scammed girls together, it was hard to hear all that was a lie."

"It wasn't a lie at the time."

"That doesn't make it any easier on the ex-best friend."

"Ex?"

"You're his best friend now. He said it himself."

"Is that the problem?" Greg said, "You think I took your best friend away?"

"No." Warrick laughed again. "I left high school a long time ago. I'm not jealous. And you didn't take over best friend duty until I got married and gave up the position. It was my own damn fault for lettin' that bitch boss me around."

"So Nick and I have Yoko to thank for our happiness?"

"Kinda ironic since she made my life miserable."

"Don't worry, even if she's responsible for our union, we won't send her a wedding invite."

"Thanks, 'cause it's not every day that a brother gets invited to party in Malibu with the Scandinavian country club crowd."

"That's a joke, right?"

"Is it? Warrick laughed. "How many brothers belong to your father's country club?"

"Just so you know, I hated that place. I never fit in. I was way too geeky and intolerant of diversity."

"Less than five, huh?"

"Three."

"Look…" Warrick returned to topic, "even though I'm squeamish about the details of your relationship with Nick sometimes, I really don't have a problem with the two of you being together. It's the thought of you two being apart that has me bugged."

The answer only confused Greg more.

"I thought long and hard tonight and what comes down to is I keep losin' the people I care about. The one constant in my life is this job and the team. If you and Nick break up, that's gonna mess things up and I think I'm worried that he's a sensitive enough guy that if things went really bad, he'd leave. He'd wanna start over. Or go back home to his family. It's selfish, but I don't want to lose the one guy I know I can count on more than anyone. He's like a brother to me."

"I like that answer."

"You do?"

"It's way better than the reasons I was imagining."

"Then I'm glad we talked." Warrick stood and checked his watch. "I'm gonna hit The Strip and play a little Blackjack. You wanna join me for a few hands before goin' home to your old man?"

Greg wondered why a recovering gambling addict would be hitting The Strip to play Blackjack, but opted not to ask. "Thanks for the offer, but I already have plans."

"Maybe tomorrow."

_Tommorow? It's a regular thing_? "Sure." Remembering his friend's recent breakup, Greg somberly said, "Nick told me about you and Cath. He said you don't want me to talk about it, so I won't."

"You just did."

"Only to tell you I wouldn't…unless you change your mind and want me to talk about it, then I would. I'm a good listener. Ask Sara."

* * *

"I think we should talk, Sara," Gil told his wife's voicemail for a third time. "I think you're being very unreasonable." By now she had probably told Greg everything. He always resented that. "I know I'm in the dog house, but I think I deserve a chance to explain my point of view, don't you?" He sighed, "Call me. **Please,** call me back." 

When he hung up, the frustrated husband glanced down at his left hand and wondered why the band of gold on his ring finger didn't magically make things better.

* * *

Still thinking about the photo of Greg's ring, Nick strolled back to the scene of the horrific car crash wearing a huge grin. 

"You look much happier than when you left," Catherine remarked while wrapping her fingers around the coffee cup Nick was handing her. "In the old days I would have thought you got a phone number off some cute red head at the coffee shop."

"Yeah." It seemed like someone else's life when he reflected on the past. "I thought I was in the dog house, but I had a text from Greg assurin' me I'm not."

"Does that mean you don't need the big date anymore?" She took a seat on the back of the open truck.

"Are you kiddin'? I need to pay it forward before the next blow up," he chuckled into his cup.

"You fight a lot?"

"I wouldn't call it fighting." Sitting next to his friend, he shared, "Dr. Henry says it's normal to have bumps in the road when guys are workin' through issues and definin' their relationship. It doesn't help that I'm stubborn and Greg's a pain in the ass. But I trust my therapist and he says it's healthy to be vocal, that the real problems begin when communication stops."

"Tell me about it," she sighed.

"Sorry, relationship stuff is probably the last thing you want to talk about right now." After spending hours listening to Catherine, he was royally pissed at Warrick's treatment of her.

"Honestly, I'm just happy to have someone talking to me, and me being miserable doesn't make me want you to be unhappy. I'm glad someone is getting along." She patted his shoulder. "How about we finish this coffee and get the evidence back to the lab, so you can clock out, rush home, and have the make-up sex you were thinking about on the walk back from the coffee shop."

"I wasn't…"

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes.

"Busted." Even though they were alone, he whispered, "It doesn't freak you out to think of Greg and me being…"

"Naked?"

"I was gonna say intimate, but yeah."

She cracked up. "No, I've been picturing you guys naked for years. The only difference now is I picture you naked together sometimes."

"For the record I've pictured you naked too. It never did anything for me," he chuckled. "That was a biiiiig gay clue right there, huh?"

"Huge." She sat a little taller and pushed out her chest. "If these babies don't produce wood, you're gay."

"So the thought of two guys in bed doesn't turn your stomach?"

"Are you kidding?" Grinning behind her coffee cup, Catherine admitted, "Watching gay porn has always been one of my favorite guilty pleasures."

"No. Really?"

"What's so hard to believe? Watching two incredibly hot naked guys flexing their muscles and getting it on without a big busted blonde chick on screen making me feel guilty for not choosing fat-free dressing for my salad at lunch? It's the **perfect **diversion after a crappy day at the office. Gay adult entertainment and my Rabbit have gotten me through some very lonely times." She made a mental note to pick up a jumbo pack of batteries and renew her subscription to Men at Play. "A gay man fantasizes that he's in the place of one of the guys on screen, but a straight woman imagines herself **in between** the hotties for the ultimate stud sandwich fantasy. I can easily block the fact that they're doing stuff to each other and make it all about me."

"Okay, yeah, it makes sense now." The newly out man laughed, "I can't believe you've watched more gay porn than me."

"I have?"

"I only had my first glimpse last night as unbelievable as that may seem."

"Wow, you really were in denial."

"Yeah."

"So where did you learn your moves if you never…noooo." A smile spread across her face. "**Sanders** taught you everything you know. Wow. That's like hearing Gilligan secretly tutored the America's Cup Champions."

"Hey now…it's not like I had to start from scratch." Surprised that he could have the discussion and laugh during it, he said, "Most of my moves with the ladies were directly transferable…minus some boob action. Nipples are still in play, but there's nothin' to grab." He froze. _I can't believe I just said that._

"Hey, a mouth's a mouth, right?"

"Yeah."

"And an ass is an ass," she chortled.

"Bonding time over." He anxiously cleared his throat before gulping coffee.

"Come on!" She elbowed him laughing and continued in spite of the order to cease and desist, "I caught Lindsay and her friends practicing BJs on ice pops one day last summer."

"They must have wanted to die."

"They didn't know." She cackled, "Like any good mom, I was spying."

"Ah."

"Honestly, as weird as this is going to sound, it was kinda sweet. I did the same thing when I was her age. It's kind of a universal coming of age ritual along with kissing your pillow and letting your fingers do the walking."

Believing the conversation was a perfect combination of funny and awkward, Nick settled back against the wall of his truck and enjoyed the lighthearted diversion.

"All that pillow kissing and ice pop sucking paid off. If you don't believe me you can call Johnny Ramos. He was the first benefactor."

"As tempting as that is, I think I'll pass, thanks."

Clutching her coffee cup, Catherine's smirk expanded. "The image of you at 35 giving a Bomb Pop a thrill in some belated right of passage is sweetly hilarious."

"You're killin' me," he whimpered while trying to hide behind a small coffee cup. "Shoulda got the Venti cup, it woulda covered my whole face."

"C'mon, I really need some levity and what better way to relax after a shitty shift than chatting with a girlfriend about boys?"

"Are you officially applyin' to be my Fag Hag?"

"Look who's learning the lingo." She flicked her hair and met his eyes. "I'll be happy to be your Fag Hag, Nicky. It's honestly the best offer I've had from a guy in a long, long time."

Seeing the sadness in his friend's eyes, Nick chose to leap out of his comfort zone and keep talking, "Greg will be flattered when he hears you thought I would need a big 'ol Bomb Pop to mirror his anatomy."

"Ha!" Laughing together, she said, "You know, the problem with ice pop practice was it didn't prepare us girls for the big ending. That part_ came_ as a surprise. I mean in theory I knew the finale would be explosive, but it was very overwhelming the first time because all my ice pops ever did was melt very slowly."

"I could see how a girl would get a false sense of security."

"Tell me…after all those years of being on the receiving end, what did you think the first time you found yourself on your knees? Did you think back to high school and college and feel bad for the girls you didn't give a second chance because they weren't good?"

Nick covered his face as he laughed, "I can't believe you just asked me that!"

"Come on! It's rare insight for a guy to have gone as long as you did before switching teams. Indulge me." Since he was gay, she pleaded with her eyes, not her chest. "Please."

"Okay, okay." He always melted when a girl had sad eyes. "This is just between you and me, got it? I'm serious now. If you mention this to anyone other than Greg, the Keppler bullshit will seem like nothin'. Betrayed won't begin to describe the way I'll feel."

"Cross my heart and hope to die." She made the Girl Scout pledge sign.

"Like you were ever a Girl Scout," he laughed before quieting to a whisper, "Greg and I still laugh about this, so I know it by heart. My exact words were 'Damn. I feel really bad about givin' girls shit about not wantin' to finish."

"I knew it!" she cheered. "That's a very satisfying answer. I wish all straight guys would have to do it once just to see it takes a little practice."

"I think you're gonna have a hard time sellin' that idea to straight guys."

"Yeah."

"And in all fairness, it's not that easy takin' care of girl the first time either. I was scared shitless and I was terrible."

"Aww, I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Kim Warner. She told me flat out – that was terrible. She didn't even bother fakin' the big O."

"I believe you, but give me her phone number anyway, because I'm writing a wedding toast for you and I bet she has some good ammo."

"Okay, I'll look it up when I get home…not." He polished off his coffee.

"Yeah, if you need any tips, I'll be happy to give you advice."

He winked, "Bein' a frequent practitioner and a fast learner, I'm an expert now, thanks."

"Lucky Greg."

* * *

"Lucky me," Roy declared when Bobby answered the door wearing a suit and tie. "Did you have to go to court today?" 

"No, Greg told me to be wearin' a suit when I see you." The Ballistics Tech undressed his boy toy with his eyes while loosening his tie. "I still don't know why."

"Does why really matter?" the Texan laughed as he tugged on his boyfriend's leather belt. "Let's not waste time talking. I'm only on a 45 minute break from training class."

* * *

"I can't believe my car broke down only a week after having it back from the shop. I don't have time for this." Vartann checked his watch as he rode in the passenger seat of Sara's Denali. "Thanks for dropping me home on the way back to the lab." He pointed. "Take a left up here." 

"This is a nice neighborhood."

"My wife's father left us the house when he passed away last year. It's older, but you can't beat the location and the schools aren't overcrowded like the newer neighborhoods."

"You really are a family guy."

"Yeah." He checked his watch again and hoped his secret lover would wait for him. "Take a right into that cul-de-sac. It's the blue one." He grabbed his cell phone to check for messages.

Sara did as instructed. "Um…you said the blue one, right?"

"Yeah," he answered while texting his date.

Staring at the piles of clothes on the lawn and the large sign that said 'Find a new place to live you cheating bastard!' Sara nervously said, "I um…I think there might be a problem. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding, but um…"

When Vartann read the sign, his heart skipped a beat. "Oh shit."

Just as Sara parked the car, Connie Vartann, a plain, petite 37 year old, flew out of the house wielding a baseball bat. Her brunette ponytail swinging as she marched down the walk, she screamed, "Don't even think of coming inside you lying rat bastard!"

"Connie!" Vartann jumped out of the truck. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Sara remained behind the wheel, debating whether or not she should interfere.

Gripping his head Vartann watched the neighboring wives, all stay-at-home moms, and Mrs. Lennox, a 74 year old widow who treated Connie like a daughter, rush outside. "What are you doing, Con?!"

"What am** I** doing?!" Connie shrieked before breaking into a maniacal laugh. "I think you're the one who needs to explain what they've been doing! Or should I say **who **you've been doing?!"

"Con…" The Detective made a T with his hands. "Time out, baby. I don't know what has you thinking I've been cheating on you, but whatever it is, you've misunderstood." When his wife held up a photo of him getting serviced by someone he knew he'd have a lot of talking to do. From the angle of the photo, and because he was gripping the guy's mop of dark hair, he couldn't figure out who it was or when it was taken. But upon closer inspection he recognized a favorite playmate's birthmark. _That's Evan._

"Who is she?!" Connnie spat.

_She?!_ Vartann's panic reduced by half. _She thinks it's a woman! Thank Christ! And thank Evan for not cutting his hair!_

"Who is she, Tony?!" Although she swore she wouldn't cry, tears started to form in the spurned wife's eyes. "Answer me!"

"She's nobody," Vartann calmly answered in his stoic cop voice. "She was a stupid lapse in judgment…a hooker who wanted to get out of being taken to the station."

"A hooker!" The news made the germphobic wife sick to her stomach. "You let some filthy prostitute put her mouth on you and then you came home and stuck it in me?!"

"No, no…" He thought on the fly. "I made her use a dental dam."

"Oh, okay then."

When his wife broke into a serene smile and started speaking in a sweet voice, he knew she was going to lose it. "Con…"

"You son of a bitch!"

When Sara saw the disgruntled wife lunge forward with the bat, she instinctively rushed out of the car. "Ma'am! Ma'am! Please put the bat down!"

Tony ducked the blow and dashed away instead of subduing his wife. "Honey, come on! Don't make a scene! Let's talk this out inside!"

"Hooker my ass!" Connie yelled when she saw the LVPD woman coming at her. "All that waiting around you people do…waiting for the Coroner in those remote locations."

"Ma'am." Sara stepped forward. "How about we…"

"Connie! No!" Vartann raced back to his wife's side, but didn't get there in time to stop her from slamming Sara with the baseball bat.

The neighbors screamed when the female officer hit the ground.

"Call 911, Margie!" Mrs. Lennox ordered while hurrying next door as fast as her walker would allow. "Check the woman on the ground, Lisa!" It appeared she was unconscious. "Don't hurt her, Tony!" she yelled she saw him wrestling Connie to the ground to get the bat away from her. She desperately tried to reason with her pseudo daughter, "Honey, let go! Right now! Let go!"

* * *

"He wouldn't let go," Tawny cried as she told her story to the female officer. "I told him I wanted to leave, but he wouldn't let go." 

"Is that when you threw the vase at the wall?" Officer Penny Batista queried while taking copious notes. She and her partner had been routed to The Tempest by hotel security, who reported that a guest had assaulted a girl who they believed to be a prostitute.

Holding a bag of ice to her swelling face, Tawny sniffled, "He said I owed him, but I didn't owe him a damn anything as I saw it."

"Did you exchange sexual favors for money, Ms. Cooper?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I have the right not to say anything, right?"

* * *

"Truth." Slouching in the bar booth, Nick slurred, "There's no way I'm doin' another one of your crazy dares." To prepare for what he imagined would be a horribly invasive question, he downed his third shot of tequila and slammed the shot glass on the table. "Let me hear it." After logging in the evidence they collected from the scene, he felt sorry for his heartbroken friend and suggested they go for a quick drink. Somehow one beer had turned into two hours of boozing and silliness. 

"Top, bottom or versatile?"

"I **knew** you were gonna ask that!"

Catherine motioned for the cocktail waitress to bring another round.

"Top," he replied without inflection, but after a few seconds he grinned behind his beer bottle and added, "until recently."

"Ha!" She slapped her thigh. "I knew there was a reason for Greg's newfound confidence."

"I really must be faced to tell you that."

"You are," she burst into a drunken giggle. "I haven't seen you this plastered in years."

"The only thing I had in my stomach was coffee." He reached for the last chicken fingers and devoured it in one bite. "I was starving." After smacking his lips, he said, "Truth or dare, baby? Truth…or…dare."

"Dare." She waited with baited breath.

Since they were in a totally secluded corner of the bar, he felt comfortable asking something outrageous. "Pretend that beer bottle is a popsicle and show me your technique."

"Why didn't I think to ask you that?!" she chided herself.

"Too late." He sat back. "C'mon, give me a show, Hot Lips. I wanna see what Johnny Ramos got that still has him whimperin' your name in his dreams today."

"I can't believe I'm doing this." She lifted the bottle to her grin. "A firm grip around the base is key."

"I couldn't agree more. It prevents floppage and subsequent teeth-related injuries."

"Exactly. It's always nice to begin with a slight tease to the tip."

He was stunned that she could keep a straight face and speak in a professorial voice. "I gotta take a picture of this with my cell phone."

"Let me reapply my lipstick first." She fumbled for her purse. "Because the photo will probably appear on your MySpace account before 5th period tomorrow and I want to look good or those cheerleader bitches will be talking about me in the halls."

Nick loved the oh-so-true high school tidbit. "With the stupid shit I did in college, I can't imagine having MySpace around back in the day. I woulda had to forget bein' a cop."

"You and me both."

"Why are these people callin' me when I'm off the damn clock?" Seeing the calls from the police station, he drunkenly scolded, "Leave me alone, people!"

* * *

"Your brother isn't answering his home or cell phone, Mr. Stokes." Officer Pinkston delivered the news, "I've fulfilled my professional courtesy obligation by leaving him multiple messages, but I can't wait any more, I have to take you to booking." 

"God dammit!" Chuck huffed, "Can't ya send a patrol car over to Nick's house and…"

"No can do." Pinkston pointed down the hall. "If you're not happy with the way things are going, maybe you'll think twice before paying for sex and assaulting the girl when she won't toss you an extra freebie."

"That's not what happened!"

* * *

"What happened?!" Gil barked at Vartann when he saw him in the ER. "Where's Sara?! All they told me was she was taken by ambulance to Desert Palms and you rode with her." 

"I'm really sorry, Grissom."

The words sliced through the panicked husband. "She's…" The words momentarily caught in his throat, "gone?"

"No!" Vartann felt horrible for misleading him. "No! Oh my God. No! I said I was sorry because it was my wife who assaulted her with a baseball bat. Luckily Connie isn't very strong, she didn't wind up or swing hard. Sara's conscious and having a CT scan and some X-rays of her shoulder. The bat hit her in the head and landed on her shoulder. The doctor says they can't say anything about a head injury until they do a scan, but from Sara's behavior, he doesn't think there's any serious damage. She needs stitches though. I don't know how many."

"Stitches," Gil parroted when he finally started breathing again. His shell-shocked brain processed that stitches were much better than death. "I…" His entire body was trembling. "I…I don't understand how…"

"Connie thought I was screwing Sara behind her back."

"Why would she think that?" Gil asked, gaining strength and snapping into CSI mode.

"It's a long story, but Sara has hair similar to someone I was photographed with and when Connie saw her bringing me home, my car died at the scene, she jumped to a very wrong conclusion and lost her mind." Feeling terrible about the ordeal, he repeated his apology with twice the remorse in his voice, "I'm really sorry."

* * *

"You're not sorry." Catherine grabbed her friend by the shirt sleeve. "You're dying to leave me and go home to your man." 

"I'm really beat." Nick returned to his seat. "Thirty minutes. Then I gotta go home and get some sleep…and maybe a little somethin' before I fall asleep."

"Whose turn is it on top?"

He choked on the sip of ice water he had just taken. "Why do people assume we have it worked out on a freakin' calendar?"

"It was a joke." She settled back in the booth. "Speaking of turns, it's your turn to ask."

"Truth or dare?" To battle his cotton mouth, he took another drink of water while waiting for the answer.

"Truth."

"Did you ever fool around with Ecklie?"

"No!" She was appalled he could even entertain the notion. "What on Earth would make you think that?"

"It did seem like you were suckin' up to him for a while there."

"I know where my bread is buttered, but when kissing ass, I draw the line at **literally **kissing the boss's ass."

"Don't go there," he laughed, thinking of the ongoing debate with Greg. "I think the whole concept is freaky, but havin' it be Ecklie's ass gettin' kissed raises the squick factor by a mile."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," she slurred, "You've never…"

"No, ma'am." When their eyes met, he whispered, "Have you ever…"

"No," she snickered, "but I've been on the receiving end."

"Really." He slid closer. "Why did you…"

"After seeing it in the movies, I was curious."

"Who was the guy?"

She wiggled her brows. "Who said it was guy?"

"Nooooo." Nick's eyes widened to saucers. "You're Bi?"

"No, but I was adventurous enough to let Eddie take me to the Bunny Ranch one time as a couple."

* * *

"I'm not a working girl!" Tawny told the officer. "Did you get a hold of Greg Sanders like I asked you? He'll vouch for me. I'm a waitress and an exotic dancer. I met that guy working a private party!" 

"Sorry, Greg's not answering his cell." Officer Batista checked her watch. "He works nights, he's probably sleeping."

"Ooh! I have his mom's number. She can vouch for me. Will that work? Will that count?"

* * *

"How long will my wife be gone getting her X-rays, nurse?" Gil wanted an estimate before he began pacing a hole in the floor. 

"What's her name?"

"Sara."

The busy nurse checked her update list. "I just got a call that she's on her way back."

"That was fast."

"They couldn't do 'em."

"Why not?"

"Because she's pregnant." From the husband's reaction, the nurse gathered he wasn't aware his wife was expecting. "Uh…if you'll excuse me, I need to take these…" She mumbled something that she hoped sounded like complex medical jargon, "to Dr. Ortiz stat." She zipped around the counter and down the hall. "I'll be back shortly." _Oh shit!_

"Pregnant." The genius with a Ph.D. in Biology could only think of one question. "How did she get pregnant?"

* * *

"Mrs. Sanders!" Tawny rapidly spoke into the police station telephone. "It's me, Tawny, the future mother of your grandchildren!" 

"Oh! Oh my God!" Jan shrieked, "David pick up the extension! It's Tawny! I think she's agreeing to be a surrogate!"

* * *

"I'd be your stork any day, Nicky." Snuggled up to her friend in the back seat of a taxi, Catherine rambled, "Maybe I have a few good eggs left in me. Do you want me to go see my gyno and check?" 

"You'd really do that for us?" He was touched by the offer.

"Remember that time we were in Pahrump processing the case with the head and kidneys in a bowling bag?"

"Like it was yesterday."

"You said…" Trying to focus her eyes on one of the three Nick's she was seeing. "You said you would give me a kidney if I ever needed one. So if you would give me an organ, I think the least I could do is have your baby."

"That's really sweet, Cath."

"Yo!" The cab driver, a transplant from New York, yelled over his shoulder. "Hold off on makin' that baby until you're out of my cab, people. I don't want you messing up my clean seats."

"You got nothin' to worry about," Nick assured the uptight man, "I don't have a turkey baster on me."

* * *

"Pregnant?" Sara stared blankly at her pale husband. "Who told you I was pregnant?" 

"The nurse." Gil randomly pointed down the hall. "S…she told me."

"She never told me," Sara winced from the pain and the shock of the news. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I don't believe this." The unsuspecting mother-to-be brought a trembling hand to her stomach. "A baby."

"A baby." Gil reached out and brushed his fingertips over Sara's cheek. "I'm so sorry that I didn't let you choose between Days or Ecklie."

"It's okay." The whole argument seems ridiculous after the day I've had. A baby." She was glad the X-ray area had been backed up, because she would have answered 'no' if asked about being pregnant.

"A baby." He reached out and placed his hand on her womb. "I can't believe you're having a baby."

"She's not," Doctor Manny Ortiz, a handsome athletic resident, announced from the gap in the curtain.

"What?" Gil whirled around to see the source of news. "She lost the baby? Was it because of the blow? I don't understand. What happened?"

"I'm sorry to put you through all this, Sir, but she was never pregnant."

Sara started worrying that the blow to her head was worse than originally thought. "I…I'm not tracking."

"We have **two** patients named Sara." Manny apologetically informed the couple, "When you asked for your wife's status, Mr. Grissom, you only referred to her as Sara and the nurse unfortunately glanced down and saw the other Sara's information, not Sara Sidle's. Again, I'm terrible sorry for any duress the information caused you. The mistake has been documented in the nurse's file and she…" When he received an emergency page, he grabbed his beeper, "A patient is coding, I'm sorry."

With the doctor gone, Sara watched her husband for a moment and then said, "Look at you. You're disappointed."

"No, I'm not, I'm just…I don't know my ass from my elbow at the moment, Sara. I thought you were injured, and then I got here and Vartann spoke as though you were dead, and then the damn nurse tells me you're pregnant and now I find out you're not and never were. It's all very stressful and…" After staring into his wife's eyes for two full minutes, the 51 year old man shared his conclusion, "I'm disappointed."

* * *

"I know a call from jail is the last thing you wanted today, Dad." Chuck Stokes gripped phone's handle as hard as his sweaty palm would allow. "I'm sorry for disappointin' you, but Nicky won't return the officer's phone calls, so would you please, for the sake of your grandchildren, bail me out." 

Judge Stokes replied in his iciest voice, "You should have thought of my grandchildren before you yanked down your zipper for a whore."

"Please, Dad, I can't stay in jail."

"You made your bed, Charles. Lie in it. If you're lonely, find another bimbo to pay. Don't call me."

"No! Please! Shit!" The sound of a dial tone made him see red. "This is a friggin' nightmare!"

* * *

"Am I dreaming?" Greg asked with his eyes still clamped shut. "Or is that really you, Cletus?" Burrowed under the bed covers, he rolled onto his back to see. 

"Honey, I'm hoooome!" Nick caressed his lover's lips with his. "Mmm, I missed you. You taste like toothpaste and smell like lemons, Decomp Boy. I don't think you've ever smelled squeaky cleaner."

"It was horrible. I had to scrub myself raw twice." Noting the pupils gazing at him were dilated, Greg said, "Why do you taste like beer and smell like a bar? Your message said you were going to breakfast, not boozing."

"Cath opted for The Watering Hole instead of Frank's. I didn't mean to get faced, but I drank on an empty stomach and she didn't want to go home to an empty house, so I wanted to cheer her up. I tried to leave twice, I swear, but she kept pleading for me to stay a little longer."

"You're allowed to have friends and hang out with them. You don't have to justify it." Propping up on his elbow to mirror his partner, Greg said, "I totally don't want to be the possessive husband type. I don't care if you go out after work without me as long as you let me know you're okay and when to expect you. Not because I don't trust you, because I'm still traumatized from you being disappearing and being tossed in a coffin."

"Hell, you and me both." After stealing another kiss, Nick said, "Baby, I know I was a real shit earlier, but I don't want to sleep in the dog house." He whimpered like a drunken Cocker Spaniel. "Can I sleep with you?"

Greg responded by lifting the covers. "Get in here, Rover."

"Yes!" In record time Nick shucked everything but his briefs and snuggled up face-to-face. "Mmm you're nice and warm." While Eskimo kissing, he whispered, "I'm really sorry about how I acted. I may be a good friend to people, but sometimes I'm shitty boyfriend to you. Even though you were wrong about what I was discussin' with 'Rick, I never shoulda called you an A-hole. And I shoulda been thrilled that you were excited to tell people I'm your guy and that our life together has been fun enough to brag about to your Lab Rat pals. Tonight when I was snappin' pics of DBs, I thought about my life and would I have any regrets if I had been the one to die in the car crash. One jumped right out at me."

"Really? What?"

Nick delivered the news through a smile, "Not dancin' with you when I had the chance." Watching his partner's lips curve into a brilliant smile, he knew the big date he was planning would go over well. "G, would you do me the honor of puttin' on your best dancin' shoes this Saturday night? 'Cause I wanna take you out on the town and show you off."

"Seriously?!" The sleepy man was suddenly wide awake. "You're gonna take me clubbing?"

"Somethin' like that." It was hard not to blurt the surprise.

"I'm intrigued." The gumshoe fan remarked in his best PI voice.

"I'm gonna leave here at eight pm on Saturday. At ten pm, you'll receive a delivery and some more information. Until then, that's all you get to know."

"It's a **mystery date**?" Greg snapped to sitting, "I've always wanted one of those!"

"I think you just morphed into a 5 year old boy on Christmas morning." When he got pounced on and frantically kissed, Nick laughed, "Now you're imitatin' the puppy that a 5 year old gets on Christmas morning."

"I love your laugh when you're wasted, Cletus."

"Mmm, and I love you." Nick pinned his suddenly hyper lover to the sheets. "Wanna wrestle for the top spot?" He teased, "I'm definitely trashed enough for you to overpower me."

Enjoying the feel of his hands being trapped against the mattress, Greg shook his head. "I'm all yours, Jocko." He loved being sandwiched between a deluxe body and deluxe bedding.

"What are you in the mood for, baby?" The question was punctuated with a sloppy kisses and a grind. "Hmm?"

His body igniting, Greg moaned, "Keeping in theme with our upcoming date…surprise me."

Glancing down at his unresponsive crotch, Nick laughed, "I hope you didn't have your heart set on bottoming, because I'm not up for the challenge."

"Did you do shots?"

"Five I think."

"Cletus…" Greg droned, "I thought we said no more tequila."

"Sorry."

"Sex is out, because I'm not in the mood to top."

"Who has to have sex to have fun?" With a naughty smirk, Nick flipped his partner over. "Hey, you said you scrubbed yourself raw twice, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're hittin' the jackpot tonight, baby! I'm drunk enough to stumble right out of my comfort zone." Yanking down his lover's briefs, he laughed, "Only problem is, I'll have to find somethin' else to do for the first time on our honeymoon."

"No way!"

"Oh yeah, I'm wasted enough to go for it." Nick smacked his skeptical lover's ass.

Greg braced for the thrill of his life. "Wait…you're not just gonna dive in, right? I need some build up. I mean, it's kind of…"

"Woulda ya shut up and let me focus," the anxious drunk ordered while laughing. "You know I get tense and self-conscious when I'm tryin' somethin' new." To work up the nerve, he decided to kiss his way down from his partner's shoulder blades. "Don't worry though, I saw two guys doin' it on that movie site and I got the gist."

"Oh. Okay. Good. Not that I was worried. I mean it's not like much could go wrong." Greg tried to relax. "I'll shut up now." Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Nick on a direct course for his crack. "Uh…" When his lover's tongue swirled over his lower back, he panicked and bolted to the edge of the bed. "Sorry."

"What the hell?" Kneeling in the middle of the mattress, Nick stared at his mate with confusion. "What'd I do wrong?"

"No, it's what you were about to do. Sorry, um…" Feeling ridiculous, Greg rambled, "All of a sudden I really thought about the concept and…well…to be honest, it um, seems a little…squicky. I think it might be hard for me to kiss you after your mouth goes…there, and I **really** like kissing you, so…thanks, but no thanks."

"**What?!** After beggin' and whinin' for me to do this how many freakin' times? Not to mention makin' feel retarded for bein' reluctant." The stunned lover tossed his hands in the air. "Here I am all liquored up, ready to lick, and you **balk **when I'm T minus an inch from your crack? Unfrickin'believable!"

His brows knitting, Greg whimpered, "When you put it like that it sounds…"

"Hilarious!" Nick's hysterical laughter shook the bed as he collapsed onto the comforter.

"Are you laughing me?"

"Hell yeah I'm laughin' at you, ya goof!" Nick paused to breathe and then resumed laughing like a hyena. "It's too squicky. Damn right it's squicky! That's **exactly** what I've been tellin' you all along." He glanced over shaking his head. "Yes, I'm laughin' at you, because you drive me insane, but you're so god damn adorable when you pull this shit it only makes me love you more."

"So you're not mad."

"No, I'm relieved. Just because we're gay doesn't mean we have to munch each other, plenty of straight and gay people pee on each other in this town and it'll be a cold day in hell before I do that with ya and I'd crawl back in the coffin with the ants before puttin' on a diaper and lettin' you feed me a bottle and wipe me."

"Good to know and…eww." Sitting on the bed with his arms wrapped around his knees, the balker said, "It honestly looked intriguing in the movies, but in reality…not so much."

"You're a very cute neurotic, G."

"And I'm all yours!" Laughter replaced embarrassment. "How's that for good news, huh? What's next? Finding an expired million dollar lottery ticket?"

"Get over here."

Crawling across the king-size bed, Greg said, "For what's it's worth, the build up and banter about it was **really** fun."

"Uh huh." Nick pulled him into his arms. "Forgive me if I just nod politely and smile, okay?"

"Ha!"

Once they were back on their sides facing each other, Nick wiggled his brows, "Brace yourself, 'cause I'm gonna propose we do somethin' **really **radical."

"Uh oh."

"Sleep."

"That I can do. I'll even go as far as to say I can do it well."

"Up for some spooning?"

"Since we're both too tired to fork, yeah." Greg grabbed his briefs from the bottom of the bed and tugged them on before slipping into Nick's waiting arms. "Thanks for keeping your promise."

"Even if you didn't let me do it."

"No, not that one." Mindlessly stroking his partner's arm with his fingertips, Greg reminded him, "You promised that no matter how bad things got at work, you wouldn't let the tension drive us apart."

"A promise is a promise." Enjoying the rhythmic stroking of his arm, Nick closed his eyes. "That feels nice."

"So other than the confrontation with Chloe and working the accident scene, how was your night?"

"You don't know the half of it. Literally. When I came home to get my results, our neighbor on the right accused me of runnin' a gay flop house."

"What?!"

"Yeah and then when I got back to the lab, my brother showed up in the parking lot sayin' he was out here on business. He wanted me to hold off goin' public until after the election. I told both of 'em to go to hell."

"Wow, no wonder you had such a short fuse when we talked in the Layout Room."

"We don't need to keep talkin' about it." Yawning, the exhausted man, said, "I just want to relax."

"Nicky! Gregory!" Jan Sanders's voice carried right through the bedroom door as she frantically knocked. "Are you in there?!"

"Tell me your mom isn't really here."

"I can't believe she barged in here again!" Greg threw back the covers and marched to the door. "Mother, I told you not to use the key when we're home. We were in the middle of something and you…"

"Chuck Stokes is being booked at your police station!" she shrieked. "Neither of you are answering your phones and…"

"What?" Nick jumped out of bed and yanked his jeans over his briefs. "Why is he bein' booked?"

"For starters, last night he paid the future mother of your babies to blow him!"

"Tawny?!" they both yelled.

"Yes." The visual of the young woman's bruised face haunting her, Jan snarled, "And when she wouldn't give him a freebie the morning after, he smacked her around. The poor thing has a black eye and busted lip."

"That's it." Nick grabbed his shirt and rushed for the door. "I'm gonna save Vegas taxpayers some money and kill the self-righteous lyin' prick with my bare hands!"

Greg and Jan exchanged frantic glances before racing to stop him.

* * *

**ANs: **

Thanks for your patience waiting on this chapter! I'd love to know what you thought of the pacing of this chapter and if it built up and flowed. There was a lot I wanted to write about and I wanted to move things along. There will be one more chapter before a little Christmas/New Year's break. KJT is going away on holiday and I have many family obligations. When I pick things back up in January, it will be the night of the big date and some other developments will be moving along. Look for a lot of the minor elements to be resolved and focus to be on the main parts. There be a little jump in time after the date and then one or two more arcs and jumps until Ding Dong, it's wedding bell time. I hope you'll stick around for the ride! I truly wish I could write more, faster, but real life continues to kick my ass in both wonderful and time consuming ways.

If you didn't check my GuestBook for an update, the reason the chapter took so long is that I took on a volunteer project coordinating school children to write to soldiers and putting together care packages using a program called anysoldier(dot)com. I'm still not done actually. It's been very fulfilling, and time consuming, mostly because it started out VERY small and turned into something huge and I'm not done yet. People keep granting me more money to keep it going, which is great.

Because I was so late in getting it done and produced it in one chunk, KJT wasn't available to edit. You know what that means LOL hopefully my husband and I caught as much as possible, but if you see something, don't hesitate to tell me!

**Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on the chapter! And to everyone who left feedback on the last chapter - you rock!! **

**Maggs **


	25. Chapter 25: New Beginnings

**AN: Welcome back! Thanks for giving the story a chance even after a long wait. In case you didn't see the notes on my website or guestbook, I got really sick around mid-December with a serious sinus infection and I couldn't write with a splitting headache. After 2 rounds of antibiotics I finally shook it and I just finished the chapter today. KJT edited the 1st half, and my husband the 2nd since KJT is still on holiday.**

**Edited to add - When reading, remember that it is still the same 24 hours in the story that it has been for the last few chapters. Even though over a month has passed in 'reader time' it stood still for the characters. So while it may seem that Roy has dropped out of the story, he really was at Bobby D's apartment 2 hours ago in the story and still there. Nick is still buzzing from when he went out drinking with Cath after work, he's not drunk again. Initial feedback from readers indicated there was some confusion about this because of the long delay between chapters. **

**Happy New Year!**

**- Maggs **

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 25: New Beginnings**

"Stop!" Greg raced to the front door of the house and blocked it with his body.

"Outta my way, honey." Nick motioned for his partner to step aside.

"Are you crazy, Cletus?! You can't storm off to the station like this. You're still on probation from flipping out when that little girl was murdered by her father. If you show up piss drunk and pissed off, you'll lose your job."

"I'm not drunk," Nick assured his partner as he snatched his keys from their entryway hook.

"You had to leave your truck at The Watering Hole and take a cab home, because you downed five shots of tequila and who knows how many beers."

Nick stared at the keys in his hand. "I forgot about that."

"A sober person wouldn't forget they rode home in a cab," Greg scolded in frustration. "If you're still skeptical, think about this…if you were sober, would you have volunteered to munch my bare ass in bed?"

When Jan gasped, the bickering couple remembered they weren't alone and responded by cringing in unison.

"I can't believe you're engaging in unprotected oral contact in that region!" Jan marched forward shaking her finger. "Do the words hepatitis, parasites, and E-coli mean anything horrific to you? They should!"

Since he doubted his mother would hear anything he said, Greg made the time out sign to get her attention. "Mom!"

"You know I wasn't thrilled when I heard you stopped using condoms, but in my heart I believe you won't cheat on each other, so I can sleep at night, but now that I know you're…"

"Mom!" Greg shouted above her ranting. "I didn't let him do it!" When she stopped rambling, he added, "He was trashed and not thinking clearly. I promise we've never been careless about it and never will be, so you can relax."

His cheeks flushing to a bright red, Nick nodded at Jan without making eye contact.

"Fine," Jan huffed, "but don't be surprised to find a year's supply of dental dams in your nightstand drawers when you come home tomorrow."

"It wouldn't surprise me at all." Greg made a mental note to put a padlock on the outside of the master bedroom door. "Now can we please stop discussing my ass and focus on the asshole at the station?" When his mother nodded, he breathed out in relief. "Thank you."

"I need you to drive me there, G." Nick grabbed his partner's hand. "Now."

"Not if you're going to lose your temper with your brother when we get there."

"I promise I won't."

"Don't believe him, Gregory!" Jan met Nick's eyes when he turned to face her. "I'm sorry, honey, but I'm not sure you're capable of controlling yourself while intoxicated. That holier-than-thou brother of yours is a moron. If Ghandi were alive, he'd deck the bastard and it's already been established that alcohol is impairing your judgment tonight." Reaching for her cell phone, she smiled, "But I know exactly how to keep you in line."

"How?" Nick asked while biting his tongue not to tell his future mother-in-law to stop meddling.

"By having Dave at the station with you. You're so desperate for his approval, you won't do anything inappropriate with him around."

"It's true." Greg nodded. "You have daddy issues."

* * *

"You really want to be a father?" Sara quietly asked, breaking the silence of the car ride home from the hospital. 

Sensing Sara was not in agreement, he downplayed the significance, "It was a knee-jerk reaction to thinking I lost a child."

"But during a crisis the truth often comes out."

"What makes you think that?"

"You. It's exactly what you said after Nick's kidnapping and right before you told me you loved me."

"Oh." Grissom anxiously cleared his throat. "I forgot about that."

"You forgot one of the most significant moments of our relationship?" she said with more than a hint of irritation.

"No, what I meant was…I'm just…I've had a rough morning, Sara."

Confused and emotional, they once again opted for silence.

* * *

"Would you **please **stop crying," Officer Penny Batista snapped at the overly emotional blonde. "I'm not taking you to Booking." 

Tawny lowered the ice pack from her face. "You're not?"

"As of right now, we have no evidence that money was exchanged for sexual favors."

"So, I'm free to go?"

The officer smiled and shook her head. "No. There still may be a disturbing the peace charge if you can't pay the hotel for damages and you have unpaid parking tickets and an unpaid speeding ticket."

"I was just about to pay those!"

"All 17 of them?"

Thinking it was 20, Tawny breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I have the check at home. I just didn't have a stamp to mail it."

"I'm sure." The cop pointed to the bench. "Sit there and wait for Sanders. **Quietly.** If I see another crocodile tear I'm putting you behind bars for wasting water in the desert."

Wiping her face, Tawny sat as directed. "I promise I'll be good." Returning the ice pack to her bruises, she pondered her options.

* * *

"I think I should head into the Lab," Grissom announced once Sara was settled on the couch. "I want to make sure Mrs. Vartann's charges aren't swept under the rug as a department courtesy." 

"You mean like my DUI was?"

"You didn't hurt anyone, Sara. That woman almost killed you."

"I could have killed someone with my car," she countered, "I was just lucky I got pulled over before I did."

"Are you saying you don't want Connie Vartann to be charged for what she did to you?"

"She was out of her head," Sara shifted her eyes to the floor. "Because she found out her scum of a husband has been lying to her and cheating on her. I don't want him walking around a free man while that mentally abused and betrayed woman sits behind bars."

"As morally offensive as his actions are, Tony didn't commit a crime. We spend our days making sure **victims** get justice and now here you are an innocent victim of a violent crime and you want the perpetrator to walk. That's confusing."

Sara returned her gaze to her husband's "It wouldn't be confusing if you grew up watching your mother change into an obedient zombie, then a drunk, and finally a killer, thanks to her abusive husband."

"Is your gut telling you that Tony abused his wife physically?"

"It's telling me there's more to the story, and I'd rather see her get help than get time." Her voice trembling, she said, "Please don't make another decision for me, because one was already too much."

Grissom nodded. "I'll call you when I find out more and you can tell me what you want to do."

When her husband wrapped his hand around the doorknob, Sara said, "Thank you." 

"You're welcome," he replied as he left.

* * *

When Carrie Blake stepped into the hallway from Interrogation Room B and saw a young woman with a busted lip sitting on a bench in the station, a familiar knot formed in her stomach. "Excuse me." Dedicated to helping abused women and children get justice, she took a seat next to the emotionally distraught girl who looked like a battered beauty queen. "My name is Carrie Blake. I'm with the DA's office and I specialize in prosecuting child and spousal abuse cases. I want to commend you for being brave enough to come down here and report your abuser. If more women had your courage…" 

"I didn't come down here to report anything. They threw me in the back of a cop car and forced me here. The truth is…I'm really scared and I just want to go home."

Pitying the young woman, Carrie whispered, "Are you afraid of retaliation if you testify against your man?"

"No, I'm afraid the cops are gonna lock me up if I can't pay for my 17 outstanding parking tickets."

"17 outstanding tickets?" The concept was unfathomable to the overly responsible and organized attorney.

"Do you mind not judging me while I'm in pain?" Tawny pointed to her busted face. "I'm kind of preoccupied."

"Who hit you?"

"My asshole customer shoved me into a wall when I wouldn't give him a freebie the morning after."

"A freebie?" Carrie clarified, "A freebie sexual encounter?"

"Private dance," Tawny lied. "I'm an Exotic Dancer at Tweeters, but I do private gigs on the side. I met the jerk at a party and then he paid me for a dance back at his hotel room."

"Do you know how dangerous it is to go off with strangers behind closed doors?"

Tawny pointed to her busted face. "Duh." Rolling her eyes, she returned the ice pack to her growing bruise. "Look, I'm sure you're a nice, well-meaning person, but you're annoying the crap out of me when I already have a headache, so maybe instead of trying to save little old me, you can go rescue a kitten from a tree or something. I don't need any help."

"Tawny!" Greg called out when he saw her sitting on a bench.

"Chuckles!" Knowing the guy was a softie with deep pockets, she pushed out her busted boo-boo lip. "I could really use a hug and some help." _And some cash!_

Always jealous of Nick playing the dashing prince to female victims over the years, Greg embraced the savior role. "Don't worry, I'll help you, Princess."

Carrie rolled her eyes at the pathetic display. "I thought you didn't need any help?" She knew the type…a lost little girl who bounces from man to man looking to be saved from her sad reality.

"Who's the crabby chick?" Greg queried while hugging his damsel tight.

Watching his boy comforting the pretty young thing, Dave Sanders felt guilty for wishing for a moment that Tawny was his son's fiancée.

Meanwhile Nick hurried to the station desk. "Carlos!" he called out to his Sergeant buddy. "Hey man, I just found out that you brought my brother in on battery charges – Charles Stokes."

"Yeah, we gave you a courtesy call a while ago," Carlos told his pal "Where were you? We had to take him to Booking without ya. He's not handling it well. He keeps yelling about his big political career back in Dallas and your family's reputation. Your daddy's a judge on the Supreme Court, right?"

"Of Texas, not the Supreme Court of the United States."

"Don't even think about asking for a favor!" Carrie jumped to her feet and stomped to the desk as fast as her bargain-rack pumps would let her. "Just because you're LVPD and your daddy wears a judicial robe doesn't mean you and your family members have carte blanche around here. Women weren't put on this Earth to perform for men. We're not circus poodles for crying out loud!" Staring down the good 'ol boy CSI in front of her she snapped, "I suppose a big time ladies man like you finds that hard to believe."

"Excuse me?!" Nick's alcohol infused emotions flared as he gawked at the petite spitfire whose dark brown eyes were glaring at him. "Have we slept together?" he quietly asked, concerned that he had forgotten another drunken tumble from his distant past.

"God, no!" Carrie shivered at the thought.

"Who are you then?"

"I'm ADA Carrie Blake and I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last available person on Earth."

"Hey now, what's with the attitude, Missy?" Nick snipped, "I'm one of the good guys."

"It's **ADA Blake **to you, and yes, I've heard all about how **good** you are, CSI Stokes, my first day on the job in the DA's Office as a matter of fact. I had the honorof listening to Tessa Clark sharing the details of your quality time with her in the County broom closet during a court recess. Her exact words were 'I needed a briefing on the evidence CSI Stokes was about to present and I was horny from staring at his hot bod in a fitted suit all morning, so I offered to go down while he gave me a run down, then he turned me around and had me screaming his name in record time. That cowboy can lasso me anytime.'" She placed a hand over her heart. "The part about you offering to dispose of the used condom so she would have more time to fix her hair sounded soooooo romantic. I bet the sweet cowboy routine really makes the little ladies swoon, huh?" She feigned an adoring smile. "Tell me…did you keep her panties as a souvenir or just add another notch to your bedpost?"

"Well I don't rightly recall ma'am," he snarked in his best hick accent. "Hmm, wait a sec, now that I'm thinkin' about it, she wasn't wearin' any of them there panties y'all like to buy from Victoria's Dirty Little Secret, so sadly no, I didn't git to keep any. Since I sleep in a barn with the other animals, I don't have a bed post, but don't you worry your purty little head, I put a big 'ol notch on my rodeo belt instead." After the joke was over, he snapped, "So Tessa and I had consensual safe sex to release some pent up courtroom tension, you should know that's not a crime, **ADA Blake**." He stuffed his hands on his hips. "Jeeeeez. What's your deal, sweetheart? Are ya jealous?"

"Hell, no, I'm not jealous! And don't you dare call me sweetheart!"

Nick winked and flashed his classic cowboy smile, "Okay, honey, I won't."

At times like these, Dave Sanders struggled to believe Nick was really gay. "We're not supposed to be making a scene here, Nick, remember?" _Or making time._

"I'm not." Nick pointed at the crazy lady. "She is. She's one of those whackjob man-hating feminists who think all men are created equally scummy, believe me, I know the type. My sister Marcia is the Club President."

While Greg's protective father was preoccupied with the stud and the Femanazi psycho, Tawny whispered, "Chuckles, do you think you could spot me some cash? I have a few unpaid parking tickets and they won't let me go until I pay them."

"Sure, how much do you need? Two, three hundred?"

Officer Batista had perfect timing. "Ms. Cooper, with late fees you're up to $2,327."

"Doh!" Greg exclaimed. "You're waaaay too expensive for me, girly. You must be confusing me with Richie Rich. I'm a poor County employee with a mortgage, not a Sugar Daddy or a Country Club kid with a trust fund."

"How about we deduct it from my future surrogate fee?" she asked with a hopeful lilt.

Greg laughed, "That's my crazy mother asking you to do the surrogacy thing. Nick and I haven't really started thinking about when or how we'd want to have a baby."

"Pleeeeeeease, I don't want to go to jail, Chuckles." Real tears started forming. "Do you know what happens to girls like me in the County lock-up? The guards and the lezzies will take turns doing me and the straight chicks will beat me to a pulp for being Barbie-esque!"

Always a sucker for a pretty girl with big boobs, Greg relented, "Okay, okay, I'm sure we can work something out. Maybe Cletus can split the loan with me and you can be our maid to pay us back."

"A maid?! Are you kidding? I'd ruin my nails cleaning," Tawny lamented before cozying up. "I could provide other services though. You're Bi, right?"

"The duality of my sexuality aside, there is the legality of keeping a sex slave to consider," Greg laughed, "and Cletus and I have a 'no threesomes' policy in our relationship."

"If I service you separately," she bubbled, "we can avoid the 'threesome clause' no problem!"

"Hey, Nick!" The Sergeant pointed. "Here comes your brother."

Carrie huffed at the cocky stud, "Even though your brother abused a woman tonight, you're coming to his rescue?"

"Not exactly."

"Nicky!" Chuck yelled. "Thank God you're here, Bro!"

"Pig bastard!" Tawny screamed at her abuser while leaping out of Greg's arms. "I hope you rot in jail! And to make it worse, I hope you get some big time butt love from your cell mate!"

When he reached Nick's side, Greg snickered in his ear. "Is it my imagination, or is she talking about butt love like it's a bad thing?"

Still buzzing from the booze he had consumed, Nick burst into laughter.

"Hey." Dave scolded them with a look. "This is a serious situation."

"Sorry, Sir," they chimed like naughty schoolboys.

One look at Chuck Stokes's smug expression had Tawny winding up her purse for a swing at the jerk.

"You people are crazy," Carrie muttered, but as she turned to leave, she got clipped in the head by Tawny's heavy purse and knocked off her feet.

"Whoa!" Nick caught the ADA just as she was about to slam into the floor.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it!" Tawny panicked when she realized she had decked the lady from the DA's office. "Does it count as assault if I meant to hit him instead of her, but missed him? I mean he totally deserves to be hit for what he did to my face, doncha think?"

"Just stay still," Greg directed while pulling the wacky stripper back into his arms. "You're trouble with a capital T, Tawny." Knowing her sad personal history of abuse and abandonment, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her even when she was causing problems and scheming for cash. "Don't say or do anything else."

Seeing the guys with women in their arms had Dave smiling. _I feel bad for thinking it, but this looks so right to me. Nick and Carrie look great together and Jan is correct, Tawny and Greg's little Scandinavian babies would be beautiful. _

Nick swept the ADA up into his arms and brought her to a bench. "Miss, are you okay?"

"Mmm." Rubbing her head, Carrie slowly opened her eyes. "What happened?"

"Tawny accidentally bonked you in the noggin with her purse. It has lots of chains and clunky rhinestones on it, so it took ya down fast." With his fingertips, he gently inspected her head. "You're not bleedin', but you'll probably have some nasty bruising."

"Why are you holding me?" she asked as she wiggled out of the cowboy's arms.

"Because I caught you before you slammed into the floor and you're still out of it." Smiling, Nick assured her, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna take advantage of ya. The reputation you know of is a little out dated. When I fooled around with Tessa Clark in the closet, I really was** in the closet**. I'm gay. I've only been out for a few months, even to myself. Greg over there is my partner."

"You just figured out you're gay?" she remarked with surprise while sitting up on her own.

"Yeah, it's a long story. Let's just say I had some childhood drama that left me confused for a long time. I don't really like to talk about it though."

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. We are strangers after all."

Wanting to start over, he extended his hand. "Nick Stokes, CSI."

"Carrie Blake, ADA." She accepted the handshake with a smile.

"Now we're not strangers," Nick sweetly informed his newest acquaintance.

Feeling bad for blasting the guy who really did seem very gentlemanly in hindsight, she said, "Thank you for catching me."

"Hey, I'm a cowboy, so helpin' purty little ladies in distress is part of the job description." Laughing, he asked, "Be honest…are ya swoonin'?"

"Sorry, Tex," she chuckled, "but in all fairness to you, I'm a lesbian."

"I suspected as much."

"The feminist rhetoric?"

"Your totally butch pumps."

"Only a guy with queer eyes would notice my shoes instead of my boobs."

"No offense, but your Bs don't stand out in this city full of silicone Ds, and I've always been more of an ass man."

"That really should have been your first gay hint."

After a mutual laugh, he said, "Hey, if you're okay, I'm gonna get back to blasting my brother."

"By all means."

After leaving Carrie's side, Nick walked over to confront his brother. "Chuck, did you** honestly** think I came here to bail you out of this mess?"

"Think of your nieces and nephew, Nicky." The older brother pleaded, "If I'm in jail I can't pay the bills. Melanie's not worked a day in her life. She's a stay-at-home mom, that's all she's ever wanted to be. She's pregnant with number four right now. She can't go out and get a job. Can't you help me make this go away?"

"I could." Nick smiled. "But I won't."

Tawny screeched, "You slept with me while your wife is pregnant?! Oh my god! You're an even bigger prick than I thought."

"I thought you didn't have sex with him," the Officer droned.

"Dammit!" Tawny hung her head. "I'm such a blurter."

Greg sneered at the cad, "I can't believe you're going to be my brother-in-law, Stokes."

"I'm not gonna be your brother-in-law, you friggin' faggot!" Chuck barked at the wuss, "you and Nicky can call what you're doin' a wedding, but it's not gonna be a legal marriage and that means I won't be anything to you after you say 'I do'. Don't you get it? Your life is a big fucking farce. You can call a goose a cow, but at the end of the day, it's not gonna give you milk."

Tawny retorted, "You mean like how you can wear an Armani suit and call yourself a gentleman, but underneath the designer duds you're still swine?"

"Like the opinion of an uneducated whore matters to me," Chuck callously replied. "You make trailer trash look high class, ya big slut."

"Hey!" Greg got in the bastard's face. "Mind your manners in front of the lady."

"Lady? Ha!" Chuck laughed, "She had sex with me for 500 bucks, so forgive me if I think whore is more accurate."

"Did everyone hear that confession?" Greg asked with a smirk. "Mr. Stokes just admitted to paying Miss Cooper $500 in exchange for sex. That's a misdemeanor, Officer. Book him!"

"Nice work, G!" Nick slapped his partner on the back. "You've obviously been payin' attention to me in the interrogation room."

Dave Sanders beamed with pride. "Way to go, Gregory."

"Shit! I can't believe you got me to say that!" Chuck shot daggers at his brother's lover. "You son of a bitch! You wouldn't say boo to me if I weren't in cuffs." He puffed out his chest. "Isn't that right, pretty boy? I can't believe my brother lets you give to him." He turned to the cops in the room. "You guys know that, right? Big tough Nick Stokes, your local hero who survived bein' buried alive, is bendin' over for pansy little Greggy here on a regular basis. Uh oh, I think I just outed the flaming fairies."

"Nah, you're about 12 hours too late, them being gay is old news already," Carlos, a devout family man, snapped, "and if you think for a minute that it's more embarrassing to be gay than to cheat on your pregnant wife, pay for sex, and batter a young woman because she wouldn't give you a free hummer, you couldn't be more wrong. Take him back to holding, Jonesy! I'm gettin' sick just lookin' at him."

"But, if he's in trouble for soliciting, that means** I'm** in trouble!" Tawny jumped in front of the officer. "I don't won't to go to jail!"

"At least you're not looking at an assault charge, you lyin' bitch!" Chuck yelled at the girl he wished he never met.

"Wait! It's up to me to press charges for the assault, right? Well, I have about $2400 in fines to pay plus the hotel wants to put me in jail if I can't pay the room damages. If the pig is willing to cover all of that, then I won't press assault charges…and if you can look the other way on the solicitation as a professional courtesy to CSI Stokes, then we're really save the taxpayers a lot of money, don't ya think? I promise I'll never do it again." She batted her eyes for effect.

"Deal!" Chuck declared. "Did you hear that?! Uncuff me, she's not pressin' charges. Where do I write the check?"

"It's not your deal to make!" Carrie yelled from the bench where she was still woozy. "A crime was committed."

Carlos looked to Nick for an opinion.

"I personally want him to rot, but you know how cases like this work. His legal team will end up gettin' him out and Tawny will pay the price for it all, so if it's better for her…"

"It is!" the exotic dancer assured the group.

"No, it's not." Carrie shook her head. "You just put a price tag on knocking you around, Tawny. For $2400 you're saying it's okay he busted your face. That just propagates the myth that women are currency and it obliterates your self-worth. Don't you think your life is worth more than $2400?"

"My face will heal in less than a week, but if I don't pay those fines, I'll be in jail for months, and I'll probably get another busted face while I'm there, not to mention raped. I've already been raped twice, and I'm real confident the third time won't be a charm." Tawny nodded at the police officer. "No charges."

"So typical," Carrie sighed, "and so sad."

Chuck winked at his miffed little brother, "Money talks. How many times have I told you that, Nicky? But I know you don't mind makin' peanuts because you're all about playin' Jesus Christ and helpin' the disenfranchised. Isn't it a little hypocritical that you're blastin' me for sleepin' with a whore for hire when you did it yourself. Kristy was her name, right?"

In a pre-emptive strike, Dave grabbed his future son-in-law. "Don't bite."

Though he couldn't pounce, Nick barked, "Kristy was **a friend**. I never paid her a dime, and I didn't have a pregnant wife at home waitin' on me, so I could sleep wherever I wanted! You ever mention Kristy's name again and I'll…" Dave's hand covered his mouth before he could finish the sentence.

"Come on, he's tweaking you on purpose, Nicky," the father scolded, "use your head and let it go."

The Sergeant anxiously said, "With a member of the DA's office standing in front of me, I'm not comfortable with anything but protocol. The assault charge is up to Ms. Cooper, but I heard a confession of solicitation, and I have to follow through."

"I understand, Carlos." Nick nodded at his brother. "Good luck with that, Bro."

"Good luck?" Chuck couldn't believe he wasn't going to hear more. "That's it?"

"That's it." Nick walked over to Carrie. "Could I speak to you outside for a moment?" He extended his hand to help her to her feet.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

While Nick walked out of the room with Carrie, Greg and Dave exchanged puzzled glances.

* * *

"Do you see what I see?" Archie asked Grissom. Pointing to the enhancement of the photo Mrs. Vartann had used to confront her husband, he said, "That's an Adam's Apple." 

"So Vartann wasn't cheating on his wife with a woman."

The AV Tech snickered, "That adds a layer of intrigue, doesn't it?"

"Yes." Grissom removed his glasses. "Especially if you're Connie Vartann. It's one thing finding out your husband is cheating, but quite another to hear it was with a man."

"No kidding, I thought that chick Chloe was going to kill Nick in the hallway when she found out she slept with a gay guy." Returning to work on the photo, Archie said, "I'm really starting to like my boring love life."

"To say it's boring implies that you have one," Hodges snarked from the doorway. "I think the term you were looking for is 'non-existent'. Or did you hook up with a Klingon Princess at the convention last weekend?"

Archie glanced up at the boss, "Why do you keep him around?"

"Because he figured out Nick's coffin was rigged before it killed me."

Hodges grinned with pride. "Saving the boss from disintegration is the ultimate 'get out of jail free' card."

* * *

"I don't want to see Tawny behind bars." Alone in a conference room with the ADA, Nick confided, "I know prostitution is illegal in Clark County, but..." 

"A little time behind bars can be a wake up call for a young girl caught up in the sex trade."

"Yeah, and sometimes it makes them take a turn for the worse."

"If she keeps soliciting, she'll end up in jail or dead, either from a violent crime or a drug overdose." Carrie somberly said, "Pretty Woman was Hollywood fiction, prostitutes never get whisked away by nice guys to live happily ever after. No disrespect intended here, but you have to know I'm right. Death at the hands of a pimp was the tragic outcome for your friend, Kristy, if I overheard Tessa correctly."

Stuffing his arms across his chest, Nick huffed, "Exactly how many stories about me have you heard?"

"Maybe a dozen…or two." Smiling to cut the tension, Carrie explained, "We work long hours at the court house and some of my coworkers get gossipy when they're hyped up on vending machine chocolate at 2am going over briefs."

"Apparently so." It was hard to hear the painful truth.

"They weren't all bad," she confirmed, while compulsively tucking her wavy brunette hair behind her ears. "I was very impressed with your mental fortitude in the buried alive story, and the one about you and Cassie McBride really touched my heart. Honestly I was skeptical that a Broom Closet Casanova could be so compassionate, but now that we've spent a little time together, I realize I was wrong. Is it true that you also found a home for her, or is that where the story turns Urban Legend?"

"It's true," Nick proudly replied. "I approached Greg's parents about adopting her. That was actually Cassie's new Daddy out there in the lobby - my future father-in-law." He ruffled, "Unless you believe my asshole brother and think my union with Greg is all a big farce, then Dave Sanders is nothin' to me."

The lobbyist for gay marriage huffed, "My partner Jean and I consider ourselves very much married even though the state says we're nothing to one another. It's all about what's in your heart, not on a paper. Look at your brother's legal marriage, his commitment is quite obviously meaningless to him."

"You're right about that." His voice softened, "You were right about the circumstances of Kristy's demise too. I thought I was helping her make a fresh start, I really did." He flustered, "Not by sleepin' with her, that was…that was me needin' a little escape from reality myself. She had a history I could empathize with and it gave us an instant connection. I don't tell a lot of people this, but I was sexually abused as a little boy…by a female babysitter. Kristy was raped by a neighbor when she was fourteen. She got pregnant, her parents kicked her out of the house and even when she lost the baby, they wouldn't take her back because they thought she had an abortion. Tawny was a straight A student and teenage beauty queen, but then her father died and her life turned upside down. Her mother's boyfriend raped her and when she cried out, her mother accused her of coming onto the pig and kicked her out at 16."

"I have a lot of sympathy for sexual abuse victims, Nick," Carrie explained, "I narrowly escaped being one myself and my best friend wasn't so lucky. But I also know how empathy can cloud a kindhearted person's judgment. Enabling someone is abusive in itself. If Tawny flits out of here tonight, she's going to be back out there tomorrow looking for another guy to pay her bills and he may be a bigger jerk than your brother. He may even be a killer."

"I know. I know." He slid down the wall and sat on the floor to think. "A few days ago she told me that she applied to work at The Bunny Ranch, at least that would be legal and as safe as prostitution can be."

"Ugh, don't get me started on that vile place."

"Prostitution's been around forever, it's not goin' away."

"Not unless guys stop wanting to get laid 24/7, but fat chance of that happening."

"Watch it now…I spend a good portion of my 24 hours a day solvin' crimes, Missy, so when I go home I think I've earned the right to decompress with some outrageously passionate love makin'." He laughed at himself. "And sometimes, on really stressful days, I don't have time to make it home, so I make it in a Broom Closet."

"How can you even think about sex after working a sex crime or testifying at a rape trial?"

"I don't think about sex, that's the point." He smiled at the puzzled woman. "I'm a guy. When the sex starts, the thinking stops. That's what makes it the perfect activity after a really bad day. It's an hour of guaranteed time off from thinkin' about the horrific stuff I've had to deal with during my shift."

"An hour, huh?" She shyly returned his laughter.

"At home, yeah. My record in a Broom Closet is only 15 minutes though, because usually I had to hold the woman against the wall the whole time and my arms got tired."

"I figured you had good stamina, because I saw your medical records tacked to the wall in the PD breakroom earlier and you're in perfect health." Trying to keep a straight face, she said, "Besides you being HIV negative, I was particularly impressed with your cholesterol levels. High cholesterol runs in my family and I have to be really careful about what I eat, because I'm genetically cursed."

"Yeah, I'm real lucky, my family history doesn't have anything bad," he grinned, "except 'asshole-ism', my brother and father are terribly afflicted."

"Ha!" Carrie hopped up on the conference table as she continued to laugh. "I needed that laugh."

"You really did. I've seen springs less tightly wound than you, sweetheart."

"Maybe I should start having sex in the Broom Closet on court breaks." She sighed, "Of course my partner is a workaholic like me, so the odds of getting her to meet me for a nooner are slim to none."

"I'm sure Tawny would oblige you for 500 bucks…or less if her rent was due."

"That's not funny," the uber-feminist snapped.

"A guy doesn't survive bein' buried alive half a day with a loaded gun unless he has a pretty wicked sense of humor."

"What was the worst part of that ordeal?" Carrie asked with morbid curiosity. "The claustrophobia? The ants?"

"Neither." Shaking his head, Nick answered, "Thinkin' I was gonna die with so much left to do. I'm a family guy. I love kids, always wanted a bunch. The hardest part was realizin' that I would never get to fall in love and be happily married."

* * *

"I **hate** marriage," Sara confessed as she sat on the couch with her knees pulled into her chest. "I always knew I'd hate marriage and here I am…hating it. How can I love Gil, but hate being married to him?" She touched the bandage on her head. "Look what marriage does to a happy couple after a decade. Husbands start screwing around, wives go after mistresses with baseball bats." Her voice grew distant, "Then one day, when they reach the breaking point, the fed up wife picks up a butcher knife and puts an end to the misery once and for all." 

Dr. Sylvia Myers, a 50 year old, well-respected Psychiatrist who had counseled Sara after a workplace incident two years earlier, said, "I'm glad you called and asked to come in. It's been too long. You were supposed to come visit me every three months, remember?"

"I thought I was fine."

"Life's stresses have a way of sneaking up on us."

"My mother said he had it coming," Sara robotically stated while fixing her eyes on a patch of carpet. "She said she was tired of him controlling her every move. She told the cops that she wanted her freedom and he wasn't willing to let her go. His exact words were 'Bitch, I'll kill you before I divorce you.' When I visited her in the mental hospital, she said she did it for me too…did it so I would have a chance at a normal life and a healthy relationship." Flicking tears from her cheeks, she said, "I think my mother was too late, because I've never felt normal, and I'm not capable of having a healthy relationship. All I think about when the going gets tough in my marriage is the cast off on the walls, my dead father's lifeless body on the floor, and my mother's smile as she stood over him clutching the bloody knife."

"That was a lot for a little girl to see," the doctor conceded, "but what you saw is in the past, it wasn't a vision of your future. Just because your mother and father's marriage failed in the most horrific of ways, doesn't mean yours is doomed. You need to leave the negativity in the past and look at your marriage as a new, independent endeavor, full of hope for happiness and longevity. Stop worrying about becoming your mother and being the kind of wife she was and ask yourself who you want to be and what you want out of your marriage."

"I don't want it to end with one or both of us in the morgue or in cuffs."

"What suddenly made you believe your marriage is on that path?" the doctor queried.

"So Gil and I wouldn't be breaking Department Policy, the Assistant Lab Director suggested I move to Day shift or my other option was that I start reporting to him. Gil chose for me without consulting me."

"How did that make you feel?"

"Powerless."

"And that scared you."

Sara nodded. "That and I found out he was lying to me."

"About what?"

"He told me he didn't want kids, but when I was in the ER there was a mix up, and he was mistakenly told I was pregnant. When the doctor clarified that I really wasn't, Gil admitted he was disappointed. I should have figured it out, because he balked at getting a vasectomy when he was about to get snipped. He rescheduled the appointment for June 17th, but since he was lying…"

"Was he lying?" Dr. Myers quietly asked, "Is there a chance that he really didn't know how he felt until that defining moment?"

"I think maybe he had convinced himself he didn't want kids because he thought I didn't want any."

The doctor cocked her head. "Do you want a child, Sara?"

Drilling a hole into the carpet with her intense stare, Sara replied, "I never imagined wanting to be a mother, but in the last year I've had these moments and done some odd things."

"Would you give me an example?"

"Uh…okay, well, I signed up for this Big Sister mentoring program."

"What was Gil's reaction to you volunteering to be a Big Sister?"

Sara glanced up. "I haven't told him yet."

"Why not?"

"I was afraid he'd think I did it because I wanted a child when we agreed that we didn't want kids."

"But now you know he wants a child." The doctor smiled, "Maybe the only problem in your marriage right now is that you're each doing things based on what he or she believes the other wants and you're not being honest about your desires. Making decisions that you truly believe will make your spouse happier isn't controlling behavior, Sara, it's ineffective communication and good intentions gone wrong."

"Ineffective communication and good intentions gone wrong are two things Gil and I have always done well. They're part of our comfort zone."

Dr. Myers presented her famous candy dish full of tasty choices and gregariously shared a personal story, "A long time ago, I had this t-shirt from Acapulco. I loved the shirt to pieces, literally. One day my husband plucked it from the laundry basket and tossed it in the trash saying, "It's an insult to keep that schmata in the same closet with your Channel suits. You won't need it anymore.' Then he excitedly announced, 'Because I'm taking you to Acapulco over the holidays and I'm going to buy you a new souvenir t-shirt!' By the way, schmata is Yiddish for a hideous piece of clothing."

"Ah."

"What he didn't know was that t-shirt was from the first trip I paid for with my own money after college. You see I grew up with nothing and endured years of listening to kids return to school with exotic tales of expensive vacations, so a fancy resort stay was the first thing I wanted to treat myself to when I had the cash. That shirt represented my independence, financial and otherwise. My husband thought I was insane when I flew into a rage over an old faded t-shirt, and an ungrateful bitch for not being excited over his vacation announcement." Thinking of the memory, she sighed, "In my mind, he had just thrown away my self-worth and freedom to choose."

"Exactly," Sara nodded, "it was infuriating."

"The moral of the story is…marriage is a minefield and even the most loving of spouses triggers an unexpected explosion now and then. Try to stop your damaged psyche from making assumptions and jumping to the worst conclusions."

"We haven't taken a honeymoon." The sparkle returning to Sara's eyes she said, "Maybe I should surprise him with two plane tickets to Acapulco and an apology."

* * *

"I'm not sorry that my brother's in deep shit." Climbing into bed, Nick cheerily said, "Even though I know it's wrong to be happy about it, I can't help it, I'm lovin' every second of it!" 

"Me too!" Greg gleefully replied while kicking off his Sketchers and plopping onto the comforter. "I don't know about you, but I'm totally wired from the day's drama." He couldn't imagine sleeping even though they needed to get some rest. "Vigorous sex might mellow us out."

"Great horny minds think alike." His shirt flying through the air, Nick said, "It'll help with my tension too. I was disappointed that Chuck didn't get charged with felony assault, because it would have made up for him getting away with beatin' up that kid in high school. Poetic justice, y'know?"

"Yeah, but look at the bright side, a misdemeanor for solicitation will at least keep him out of office for good."

"Yeah."

"One less Neo-Con Republican in office is always a good thing." Greg rubbed his palms together. "Maybe we should crack open some bubbly to celebrate."

"We still have a bottle or two left over from your birthday party." Nick considered leaving the bed to fetch the champagne, but decided he was too comfortable to move. "Now that I think about it, it seems a little wrong to celebrate when my sister-in-law's life is in shambles. When I was on the phone with Melanie, she was tryin' to be tough, but I could tell she was gonna fall apart as soon as we hung up. Hearin' the painful truth from me now is better than bein' lied to and cheated on for years to come though."

"Totally. And your mom was going over there to be with her, right?"

"Yeah, my mom's been like a mother to her since they met. Melanie's parents both died a few years back and she's an only child. That's what she loved about marryin' into the Stokes clan…she got an instant family. My parents are so ticked at Chuck, they'll make sure Melanie's okay financially and that she has a good lawyer if she wants to divorce instead of givin' my lyin' sack of shit brother a second chance like she said she might for the sake of the kids."

"I'm pretty sure I'd want a divorce if my husband cheated on me while I was pregnant."

"Thankfully you'll never get a chance to find out, 'cause you can't get knocked up and I'll never be unfaithful." Resting his hand on Greg's hip, Nick slid closer until their grins met for a tender kiss. "Mmm."

Greg wondered why the kiss tasted like Cuervo, but decided to mention it.

Caressing his partner's cheek afterwards, Nick softly said, "This whole nasty incident has me feelin' stupid all over again about gettin' angry with you last night. If the worst thing you ever do to betray me is overshare details of our love life because you're excited about our relationship, then I'll consider myself a real lucky guy."

"Hey, I feel lucky too. Dealing with Tawny made me grateful I'm in a happy, monogamous relationship with a guy I can trust. That babe was** totally** playing me and the old, desperate Greggy would have absolutely fallen head over heels for her Double D charms."

"Yep, then a few weeks after sleepin' with her, she'd call and tell ya that you're gonna be a daddy for the low, low price of two-grand a month in child support."

"I'm really glad I dodged **that** bullet."

"Are you wafflin' again on bein' a daddy?" Nick remarked with more disappointment than intended. "Sorry, I don't want to pressure..."

"No, no, what I meant was I want to have a baby with **you**, not some gold digger who doesn't love me." Greg's sweetest laughter filled the room. "I realize my lack of a uterus complicates matters, but I want to go on record saying, that if I had the right equipment for the job, I'd totally have your baby, Cletus." Gazing into his eyes, he chuckled, "I'm so insanely in love with you right now, if you asked, I'd absolutely spread 'em and let you knock me up."

It was a classic freaky Greg moment and Nick couldn't suppress his laughter. "Wow….that's a really sweet and extremely odd thing to hear, G. Thanks."

"You're welcome." The suddenly amorous partner snickered, "Are you up for a romp? Because oddly enough, all this baby-making talk has ironically put me in the mood for some really intense non-reproductive sex."

Nick replied by grazing his crotch over his lover's thigh and working open Greg's jeans. "What the…did you really go to the station without underwear on?"

"I was preoccupied and in a rush! Thankfully it's not a crime to walk into the police station without drawers."

"Yeah, because Cath would be under arrest every night."

"There's a visual I didn't need."

"Here, let me replace it with another one." Nick tossed his clothes and posed. "How's this workin' for ya, Baby?"

Upon seeing his mate ridiculously trying to pose like a porn star, Greg burst into laughter. "I think you're still a little drunk, Cletus."

"While you were busy takin' a dump, I was in the kitchen knockin' back shots to celebrate my brother's downfall."

"Thankfully the booze hasn't reached your extremities yet." When his body was blanketed by his eager lover's and his tongue captured in an aggressive kiss, Greg knew he wouldn't be in lead today. "Someone's gone from incapacitated to in charge."

"Sorry, G, do you want to…"

"Nope." Gripping Nick's bare shoulders, he beamed in anticipation. "You're exactly where I want you, Romeo." Running his hands over the muscles flexing before him, he purred. "I think there's a bottle still under my pillow." The lunge for lube allowed him to peruse another side of the perfect body. "Were you working in the yard without a shirt on? You're three shades lighter below the belt."

"Maybe I should start doin' yardwork naked."

"No, you might weed whack your wiener off."

"As opposed to you in college…whacking off your wiener while smokin' weed."

"Yep, then I'd roll over and order a pizza to satisfy my pot and post-masturbation munchies." Greg reached to caress his favorite toy. "Life wouldn't be the same without Nick Junior." Making it bob up and down, he joked, "See, he's nodding in agreement."

"No's he's sayin' stop talkin' and use your mouth for a higher purpose."

Greg jumped at the chance.

"You don't have to…" Nick pawed at his partner's tousled hair. "I totally don't deserve this after treatin' you like shit at the lab." Watching and loving every move, he pleaded, "But don't stop." Thirty seconds later, he screeched, "Stop!"

"Problem?"

"Yeah, it felt too damn good." Nick planted his lips above Greg's belly button and slowly made his way north, alternating kisses with swirls of his tongue.

"That's nice." Greg chomped on his bottom lip as shivers of delight came in waves. "I know we haven't gone a day without some sort of sexual activity, but it feels like it's been a long time since we've taken our time."

"I was just thinkin' the same thing."

The feel of Nick blowing on his wet nipple drove Greg wild.

Instead of keeping his observations to himself, Nick spoke with tequila honesty, "You're such a girl when it comes to your little titties, G."

"What?!" Greg covered his flushing face with his hands.

"You know it's true, baby."

"How long have you known?"

"Hell, since you held that sparkly shirt over your chest in the lab."

"You mean the time you copped a sneaky feel?"

"Maybe subconsciously. Anyway, my suspicions about you were confirmed the first time we made love." Nick teased, "Be honest, have ever dreamed of gettin' a sex change, so you could have real ones."

"No way, I'm very happy with my A minus chest, because I love my penis too much and it would suck to pee sitting down." Greg tapped his left side. "Could you…"

"Don't worry, if there's one thing I've learned it's that both sides need equal time."

"Are you sure you love me?" Greg sweetly asked as he watched his dream man trace circles with his tongue. "Because I really am a freak in about 50 different ways."

"I'm sure." Nick winked and caressed both sides of his quirky boyfriend's chest. "I love you and the girls." He let his right hand wander south. "And the boys, who I think are feelin' pretty neglected, so if you'll excuse me."

"I was just about to suggest we discuss the Kramer case over coffee, but if you'd rather blow me," Greg shrugged, "I guess I can roll with that."

"See, that's why I love you." Nick stole a kiss before returning to his downward course. "You can make me laugh on the shittiest of days and let me get my rocks off. Life doesn't get sweeter than that."

"Don't forget, I cook too."

"Yeah, but that's a wash, because it's what makes me overlook your constant talking." After a teasing lick, the cowboy winked, "I'll hope you'll forgive me for cuttin' our chat short."

Greg gasped upon being wholly consumed. "Forgiven."

* * *

"I'm sorry," Sara told her husband's voicemail as she strolled through Walgreens. "I just left Dr. Myers and I have a whole new perspective on things. I'll be home waiting for you…in bed," she added before smiling. "Love you." 

After returning her phone to its clip, she reached out and plucked an ovulation predictor kit from the shelf. _We're Lab Rats, going scientific is what comes natural to us._ The plan was to put the kit in a gift bag and surprise Gil with it before they made love. _I can't wait to see the look on his face. He's going to be so happy._

* * *

This should make Sara happy, Gil thought as he parked in front of his Urologist's office. _A vasectomy will take away any doubts and fears that I'm going to leave her for a woman who wants a child. _

Checking his watch, he hurried into the building, certain he was** finally** doing something right.

* * *

"Nothing's wrong," Greg panted. With his fingers entwined in his partner's hair, he gently tugged. "I don't want to finish before…" 

"Before what?" Bumping parts, Nick teased, "What makes you think I want to do something else?"

"The swordfight was my first clue."

Glancing down in unison, they enjoyed watching each bump of their eager anatomy.

"Sorry," Greg laughed, "I lost my train of thought. What were we talking about?"

"Who cares?" Nick ravaged his partner's eager mouth with a fiery kiss, and kicked off a steamy grind.

Greg mindlessly kneaded his lover's muscles in between gulps of oxygen, "Wanna finish like this?"

"No." Nick caught the bottle tossed his way. "I can take a hint."

"Cold!" The temperature of the liquid startling him, Greg said, "I swear you keep that stuff on an ice just to make me jump."

An explanation for the chill came in between heated kisses, "Roy turned down the air conditioning real low…I'm gonna tell him not to touch it...I don't want our electric bill to skyrocket."

"Speaking of temperature…mine's on the rise."

Bringing their grins together, Nick teased his bisexual mate, "Do you think bodacious Tawny could rock your world like I do?"

"Like I'd let those talons she calls fingernails anywhere near my prostate."

"Ha!" Having a great time in bed with his jokester lover, Nick snatched a kiss.

The pleasure building, Greg closed his eyes and moaned, "That feels so good." It was the perfect start to what he knew would be outrageously passionate love-making. "Mmmm."

"Yeah, no one knows your body as well as I do, baby." Too excited and enticed to wait any longer, Nick opted to hastily prep his body and moved on.

"Hey!" Greg's eyes flew open. "Slow down, cowboy!" He placed his palms on his impatient lover's chest to keep him at bay. "Almost ripping me in two kinda ruins that 'no one knows your body as well as I do' vibe, y'know?"

"Sorry, G." With puppy dog eyes, Nick confessed, "I had a feeling I was rushin' things." He used kisses and caresses to make up for his faux pas. "You're just so irresistible."

Greg laughed, "Did that bullshit line work with the ladies after you cheated them out of some foreplay?"

"Almost every time."

"As you were, Casanova."

"You sure?" Nick asked in a sexy rasp, but didn't wait for an answer.

"Yes, by the way."

"I figured it was rhetorical."

"And here I…"

"Are we gonna keep talking?" Nick asked, desperate to lose himself in the loving. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so…"

"It's okay." Grinning wide, Greg watched his lover's stress melt away a little more with every thrust.

"Hey, G..." Adjusting their bodies, Nick winked, "Positive reinforcement is still welcome." Slipping his hand around the back of his partner's neck, he pulled him close for a kiss. "Wait…why does it seem easier to kiss you in this position than it was the last time?"

"While you're in the gym pumping iron, I've been in my office doing yoga and Pilates." In between throbs of pleasure, Greg proudly declared, "I think I've almost doubled my flexibility."

"I think my love of you just doubled." Nick whispered before closing his eyes and retreating into the safety of physical ecstasy. "Love you, G." The day's stress faded with each stroke and soon he was lost in the intensifying passion. "You feel so good."

Bodies and eyes locked, the two men only exchanged sounds and looks of approval as they moved and rolled from position to position. In the end they were sitting in the middle of the bed, facing each other and moving in perfect harmony. The symbolism wasn't lost on Greg. They had started the relationship uneven and over time, the balance had shifted. Their life together was now like their love making…unpredictable, but no matter what, they knew they'd ride things out until their last breath and be extremely satisfied with what they had in the end.

"Yes!" Greg exclaimed, answering his own thoughts as much as Nick's question. "I'm…" As usual, he didn't finish the statement.

"Aww, G," Nick breathlessly scolded as he teetered on the edge, "you were supposed to wait for me."

"Honeymoon," the sated lover panted, "I thought it could be the new thing we try. Our first mutual…"

"OH!"

"…during sex."

* * *

"Try not to focus on reproduction during sex," Sara read out loud from the Ovulation Kit's instruction manual. "Keep it fun and romantic, don't make it seem like work."

* * *

"I can't believe you called me down to your workplace for sex!" Jean giggled like a naughty school girl as Carrie searched for her shoes in the courthouse broom closet. "Where did this idea come from?" She fixed her pixie cut red hair and tucked in her blouse while waiting for an answer. 

"The future father of our child," Carrie laughed, feeling unstressed for the first time in months.

"Excuse me?" The stunned partner couldn't believe her insanely picky mate had finally found the right donor after almost a year of nonstop searching.

"He's perfect!" Slipping into her pumps, Carrie enthused, "He's heroic and compassionate, incredibly handsome, a hard worker, and he loves children, but most importantly, he has outrageously low cholesterol levels! I saw his medical records, he's totally healthy."

"Wow." Jean hadn't seen her lover this animated in a long time. "You're not going to leave him for me, are you?"

"He's gay."

"Ooh! That's the best kind of donor." Her enthusiasm mounting, Jean asked, "I want to meet him before I use his swimmers to impregnate you. And we'll have to draw up paperwork. Wait…you didn't do all that without me, did you?"

"No, of course not!" Carrie straightened her lover's collar smiling, "I haven't even asked him yet."

"What's his name?"

* * *

"Stokes!" Greg yelled from the kitchen where he was searching the fridge in his birthday suit. "We need eggs!" 

"So much for me makin' you my post booty call omelet." Circling his arms around his partner, he peered into the fridge. "I could make ya Grilled Cheese."

"Carbs after sex will make me good and sleepy."

"My thoughts exactly." After a lingering kiss, Nick whispered, "You get the low fat cheese and fake butter, and I'll get the whole grain bread."

"When you say it like that it sounds totally healthy and completely unappetizing."

"Wanna go out instead?"

Greg shook his head. "A big part of the appeal was eating naked in bed together."

Like two stoned buddies they yelled, "Pizza delivery!"

* * *

"I'm home with food, Sara!" Gil announced as he tossed his briefcase and carried the brown shopping bag to the kitchen. 

"Bedroom!"

Hoping his wife wasn't busy packing to leave him, Gil somberly strolled into the master suite. "I've got something for you, honey," he began, holding out a small paisley gift bag.

"I have something for you too," Sara pointed to the silver foil gift bag on the bed.

Seeing his wife in La Perla lingerie for the first time commanded the 50 year old's full attention and he missed the gift bag entirely. "I love it!"

"The gift isn't me in lingerie," she grabbed the bag and handed it to him. "It's in here."

"Oh." Gil couldn't imagine what could be better than his sexy wife in naughty lingerie, but being a curious scientist, he opened the bag.

"What did you get me?" Sara queried while lunging for the little bag in her husband's hand.

Staring at the ovulation predictor kit as his wife read his Urology appointment card for a vasectomy next week, Gil deadpanned, "Typical."

"For us to be out of sync?"

"Yeah."

Grinning, Sara ripped the appointment card in half. "Better?"

* * *

**ANs:**

EDITED on 1/5 - Please see my personal website homepage for a note about future chapters.

**Thanks,**

**Maggs**


	26. Chapter 26: Real Men Part 1

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 26: Real Men - Part 1**

"Hey! Did I just hear you say Stokes is a fag?" Officer Jack Markson couldn't believe his ears as he sat drinking coffee on the patio of Kelly's Café, a popular breakfast spot for Clark County's finest. "You better watch your mouth, Diaz," the 37 year old fitness-obsessed cop warned the rookie who was sitting at the next table, "Stokes is a good friend of mine. We've worked out at the same gym for years, and since I've seen him with his tongue down a woman's throat in the parking lot of Fitness World, I can assure you he's not a fag." He shook his head at his co-workers, Carl and Phil, sitting across from him. "Can you believe that idiot?"

"Yeah, actually, I can." Tearing open a packet of sugar, Carl Watson filled in his buddy who had just returned from vacation, "Stokes went public two nights ago. And not only is he queer, he's shacking up with that geek CSI…"

"That narrows it down to 20 guys," Phil Holloway snarked.

"Greg Sanders," Rookie Eddie Diaz announced from the next table. "I told you I wasn't lying, Markson." He laughed, "And yeah, I've seen you and Stokes together at Fitness World. Was him spotting you his idea or yours? Wait…was it spotting or cuddling?"

"Fuck off, Diaz."

Content with one good jab, the young cop grabbed his coffee and left while he was ahead.

"I can't believe this." But Jack knew his best friends wouldn't lie to him. "I showered and changed my clothes in front of Stokes for years. How god damn sick is that?"

"You think he was checking out your ass while you were lifting?" Phil sniggered into his coffee mug. "He was probably scoping out your junk in the shower too. Did he ever drop the soap?"

"Shut up."

"Wow." Carl glanced over at his fitness-crazed friend with pity in his eyes. "If it's true and he was checking you out all this time, it's kind of insulting that he picked Sanders over your muscle-bound body, doncha think?"

"You're a sick pup, Watson. I'm a married churchgoing man!" Jack found no humor in the situation. "Stokes hasn't been around the gym for the last few months, but before that, we worked out together all the time. What are the guys at the gym gonna say when they hear about this, huh?"

Leaning in, Phil whispered, "You don't have anything to worry about unless Diaz was right. Did Stokes really volunteer to stand behind you and spot you a lot?"

Carl added, "Yeah, did he ever bump his junk against your ass and pretend it was an accident or not acknowledge it?"

"Son of a bitch! He was totally coming onto me and I was clueless. " Jack pushed away his full breakfast platter. "Jesus Christ, I feel nauseous. I can't eat."

* * *

"What are you doin', G?" Nick had followed the heavenly smell of chicken fajita burritos to the kitchen. "I was comin' down here to cook for you." He adjusted the grey pullover he had just thrown on. "It's my turn, remember?" 

"Yeah, but that wake up call you gave me put me in the mood to spoil you." Greg produced a bottle of Cholula from behind his back, "I even have your favorite condiment." Grinning, he said, "If someone had asked me a year ago if I ever thought I'd be waking up to Nick Stokes throwing himself at me all prepped and ready to go, I would have laughed loud enough to wake every corpse in the morgue."

"Honestly, I still can't believe I did that…at least not sober."

"Where did you get the idea? And how did you…no, actually, I don't want to know the answer to the second question, it'll ruin the mystique."

"To answer your first question, when you were workin' on your book yesterday, I was watchin' some of your porn on my lap top to learn new moves."

"The guy who used to mock my porn is stealing it?"

"It's not like I can ask my big brother for advice like I did when I started sleepin' with girls. Anyway, maybe mocking your porn was a cover," Nick playfully confessed, "maybe I was secretly longing for it, like I was secretly longing for you." He breathed deeply through his nose, "And your burritos." Licking his lips, he reached for a plate. "I can already tell this is gonna be a great night." He joked, "Except for walkin' funny."

"Sorry, Cletus, but you know dominating you goes to both of my heads." Greg grabbed his abandoned mug of java. "Now stop talking and eat that burrito, because I slaved over a hot stove to make it and I don't want it to get cold."

"Whatever you say, Master."

"Ha!" Handing over the hot sauce, Greg said, "Since I'm such a natural Dom, maybe I should get a part-time gig at Lady Heather's, that way when I max out on OT, I can still make extra cash for our honeymoon. Ooh! Speaking of sex slaves, my mom called and said Tawny declined the job at The Bunny Ranch and agreed to move into my parents' new home today. She totally bought it when I said she needed to be a pure vessel if she's going to gestate our spawn. My mom also used her PFLAG connections to get Tawny a better job at The Cheesecake Factory."

"That's great," Nick replied with a mouth full of burrito. "I had a feeling she'd take the offer." It had been Greg's suggestion that Tawny be told she could only be a surrogate mother if she agreed to live under his parents' roof and follow a strict health, fitness, academic, and sexless lifestyle for six months to clean up her act. The hope was that after six months of normal living, the lost girl wouldn't want to return to the sex industry and would stay a clean course, choosing to live a better life for herself. "Tawny was scared shitless about goin' to jail and when Carrie found a way out for her, that Tough Love speech she gave her had that girl shakin' like a leaf in a tornado."

"Do leaves really shake during a tornado? Aren't they just stripped off when the tree is ripped from the ground and sucked into the vortex of doom?"

"It's just a saying, Mr. Wizard." After another bite of burrito, Nick asked, "Jan's cool with the possibility that Tawny might decline bein' a surrogate at the end of the six months, right? We agreed we're not forcin' her to do anything. I hope your mom made it clear that the offer was charity, not bribery."

"Jan wants to be a grandma, but she also gets a rush from helping lost girls, so she'll be cool with saving another wounded soul and set off to find us another uterus for hire."

"'Uterus for hire' sounds really weird."

"No stranger than 'lesbians shopping for spunk'." While Nick choked on burrito, Greg took a seat at the counter to eat his breakfast. "Speaking of lesbians, we got a message from that Carrie chick inviting us to her house for dinner with her partner on Sunday. ADA Blake said she's dying to pick our CSI brains and discuss casefiles."

"I don't know. Remember the last double date we went on with women?"

"No," Greg shivered at the memory of their night with Dumb and Dumber. "I blocked everything about those bimbos, but I vividly remember you being **totally** in love with me when you were helping me hurl in the bathroom."

"Totally in denial is more like it." Thinking back to that night, Nick exploded into a smile. "I left two naked women in bed to rush home and see you, that was a huge clue right there. I told myself I was doin' it because I was a good friend. I can't believe I believed my own bullshit. It was** all** about wantin' to be with you. I remember desperately thinking of ways not to say good night and then frantically justifyin' that it was just me being concerned about you."

"That explains why you were begging me to go to IHOP with you when I was still green from puking."

"You musta thought I was nuts."

"I'll tell you exactly what I was thinking." Getting nostalgic, Greg placed both hands on Nick's thighs and leaned close. "After fantasizing about you forever, it felt insane to have your hands dipping under my shirt and sliding over my skin. Every touch had me reeling." He brushed kisses over his lover's lips as he spoke, "When you popped open my jeans to get me undressed for a shower, my heart skipped three beats, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to kiss you…just…like…this." When their lips parted, he chuckled, "Knowing I had vomit breath factored heavily into my decision, well that and the fear of you being straight and kicking my ass for coming on to you."

"Maybe I wouldn't have kicked your ass." Nick slid his hands around his partner's waist. "Sometimes I think if maybe you had pushed the issue one of those times when we were on the couch two inches away from each other, I would have been overwhelmed and gone with the flow."

"I really doubt that."

"It's water under the bridge anyway. We're front page news." Their foreheads pressed together, Nick whispered, "It's been brutal these last two days since goin' public…the pissed off women, the stupid jokes, the disgusted looks, the homophobic guys talkin' behind my back. It sucks. I hate it as much as I thought I would. On top of that, two of my sisters are denyin' my existence, another one is talkin' to me but totally freaked, and my dad's only bein' nice to me so my mother won't leave him. I hate that too, and I dread the drama at my parents' anniversary party this summer. For us to have a baby in the future, we're talkin' about buyin' an egg and leasin' a uterus, and even if all that works out, we'll be gettin' some funky looks at the school PTO meetings when our kid has two daddies on Back to School night. Marryin' you is gonna be hard, G, much harder than if I was marryin' a woman."

"Uh…are you trying to depress me or break up with me, Cletus?" His partner's odd behavior was starting to worry him. "That wasn't goodbye love we just made, was it?"

"What? No." Nick snatched a kiss and smiled, "I was gonna say that life with you is worth all that bullshit."

Greg resumed breathing. "I would have figured that out if I had that second cup of coffee in me."

"MmmHmm." Nick handed over his partner's coffee mug laughing, "Bottoms up, baby."

"Literally?" Greg snickered, "Because I kind of need my coffee before that too."

"Figuratively, Romeo."

Gazing into his partner's emotional eyes, Greg quietly asked, "What's going on, Cletus? What was that wake up call and the post-coital cuddling about? I know I'm not that good in the sack."

"Stop sellin' yourself short." Taking his partner's hand, Nick said, "Even though I've had the bottom spot a few times now, mentally I've never been able to let go and not be in charge."

"Trust me, I've noticed." Greg sweetly chuckled.

"It's weird, but I've never believed mental submission could be a good thing. When we were workin' a case at Lady Heather's once, Catherine told me she was into some of that stuff, not the crazy shit, but she said she loved bein' tied up and blindfolded while her lover ordered her around. She said it was relaxing not to be in charge for a while. I thought she was nuts, because bein' tied up and out of control would make me feel nothin' but tense. And this was **before** I was' kidnapped and bound." Giving Greg's hand a squeeze, he shook his head, "But now I totally understand where Cath was comin' from and..."

"You want me to tie you up and blindfold you? Cool! I'll stop at Erotica Boutique for supplies on the way home."

"No, really, that's okay," Nick laughed at the idea. "What I'm sayin' is, it's exhausting being a tough guy at work all night, and now I have the added pressure of tryin' to prove to half the police force that I'm not some big wimpy queer. So, when I woke up I thought it might be relaxin' to radiate a little feminine energy and just be your girl…with a penis."

"Uh oh, you're starting to sound as crazy as me."

"Well, they say livin' together makes people alike." Nick burst into a smile. "God help me."

"You think you're screwed? I'm cohabitating with a country music fan!" Greg confessed, "I caught myself humming along with Rascal Flatts last night. I'm doomed. I'm not even gonna fight it anymore."

"I'll get you a Stetson for Christmas, Slim."

"Black or white?"

"Black of course. How else will you play bad boy to my purty little lady with a penis?"

"Black it is." Greg blurted, "I love you, Cletus. Whatever it was, whatever your motivation, I loved what we shared earlier."

"Me too, that's why I didn't want it to end, why I asked you to spoon me. It felt nice to be protected and off guard for a change."

The statement was shocking. "You felt safe in the arms of a guy who got his ass kicked while sitting in a two ton truck?"

"Yeah." Nick brushed his thumb across his lover's cheek. "I really did."

Feeling overwhelmed by the quiet moment, Greg whispered, "Wanna call in sick and spend the whole night in each other's arms?"

"I've never played hooky in my life."

"I'm not the least bit surprised, Mr. Responsibility."

"Look on the bright side," Nick picked up his burrito, "if you don't go to work, how will you stop at Erotica Boutique on the way home from work?" He took a bite, grinning.

"Seriously?"

"No freaky shit," the hungry lover answered after swallowing, "and no blindfold. Just the scarves. And another jar of that honey dust, I love that stuff."

"You got it." After a kiss, Greg grabbed the morning paper from the counter and stood. "Java's kicking in." On his way to the bathroom, he pointed to the fridge. "Hey, Carrie's number is right here under this Catalina Island magnet. I'm okay double dating with the lezzies if you are, because they're brainiacs, not bimbos."

"Carrie reminds me of a little terrier dog - barky and sassy, but sweet and fun to be around, so yeah, I'll call and say we'll be there." Sprinkling another dose of Cholula, Nick said, "And we can always use another friend in the DA's office."

"Cool."

* * *

"You're hot," Sara showed her husband the thermometer as they stood in their bathroom getting ready for their shift. "102.5. No field work for you tonight." 

"All that reproductive sex must have worn me down."

"The hazards of loving an old man," Sara sighed. "You probably caught something when you were processing that playground. Those places are hot beds for germs."

"I guess our child has no chance of playing on the monkey bars."

"With the geek genes our kid will inherit, he or she won't be coordinated enough anyway." Sara grabbed her ID badge and clipped it on. "I'm looking forward to show and tell though. I want to see the girly girls freak out when our kid brings in his prize-winning Madagascar Hissing Cockroach."

"We can always put the roach on a gilded leash to impress the girly girls."

"They really sell those?"

"There's a booth of them at every Entomology conference."

She coughed 'freak' into her fist.

"They sell rhinestone ones too."

"Okay, Bug Man, stop talking before I regret my decision to create a life with you."

"Can you check my throat?" Gil handed his wife a flashlight. "It hurts to swallow."

Peering into her husband's mouth Sara nodded, "Mmm, pus, I'm glad I didn't kiss you upon waking. I bet it's Strep. It couldn't be from the playground - it's not a long enough incubation period."

"I bet someone at the Lab has it and is infecting the place."

"It's not Nick," Sara joked, "I saw his medical records tacked on the Break Room wall and he's in great health."

The boss rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe he did that. I made him take it down."

"He hung a copy up at PD too." Sara continued getting dressed for work. "I think it was a good Time Management move. It would have taken days to verbally convince every past lover he was clean."

"A picture is worth a million words, but printed HIV test results are priceless."

"The cops at the scene last night were making Nick's life miserable. Not to his face, but it was obvious they were snickering and cracking gay jokes behind his back. I was ticked off and wanted to say something, but he said his therapist told him not to be confrontational. If someone cracks a joke in front of him, he can return the favor and try to maintain his position as one of the guys or give a reply that shows he's not ruffled. If someone slams Greg, he's supposed to answer back with a wife or girlfriend joke just like the other guys would if their loved one was a target."

"That won't get him punched in the face?"

"According to his gay therapist, it works more often than not, but yeah, it could." Tossing her hair brush on the counter, Sara said, "All that jock cop BS drives me crazy. I've learned to block it over the years, but sometimes they trigger my inner mean girl, like when they were mocking the obese women waiting in the interrogation room, I wanted to kick every one of them in the nuts. Greg and Nick are like my brothers, so when I hear cops picking on them, it triggers my inner mean girl big sister."

"Maybe pregnancy will mellow you out," Gil optimistically replied.

"Really?" She smirked, "I've been worried that pregnancy hormones will bring out my inner bitch. Kind of like when I pull a double with Catherine."

* * *

"Willows!" Detective Cavaliere shouted from the crime tape. "What the hell took so long to get a CSI out here?" 

"Check your watch!" Catherine yelled before shutting the passenger door on the Denali, "You called it in 30 minutes before shift change, no one from Swing was gonna touch it." She walked around the truck to meet Nick and grab her kit. "I love how these guys think we're all sitting by a Bat Phone waiting to leap into action."

"I was hopin' for Jim or Vega."

"Is Chris giving you a hard time?"

"When doesn't he?" Nick grabbed his kit. "Now he just has a new reason to hate me. He was already callin' me a bleedin' heart pansy before, I can only imagine what he's sayin' now that I'm out."

"Your buddy Officer Markson is working the tape at least."

They started walking toward the house.

"One friendly face at least." Nick could feel the tension in his body rising with each step. "I haven't been workin' out at the gym with Jack since I hooked up with Greg."

"Why?"

"I felt weird about goin' there pretendin' to be straight. I was worried what the guys would think if word got out I wasn't."

"Is that why you put that tricked-out home gym in the new house?"

"Yeah." Nick readied for confrontation. "Guys don't mind bein' naked together in the locker room until they know there's a queer in the group."

"Everyone will get used to it and calm down." Securing her camera on her shoulder, Catherine said, "You're still the same great guy and anyone who thinks differently isn't worth your time or energy."

"Hey, Jack," Nick greeted his friend. "How was Disneyland? Did the kids love it?"

Scowling at his ex-workout buddy, Officer Markson snipped, "It was great. You should go. I saw an advertisement for Disneyland Gay Day, it's in October. You can take your little **boyfriend** there to flit around with Tinkerbell."

Catherine felt a chill even though the air temperature was 84 degrees.

Pretending not to notice the agitation in his friend's eyes and voice, Nick replied through a smile, "Thanks for the heads up, but we already have a little Disney trip planned in a few weeks actually. We're takin' Greg's little sisters there now that school's out. Jenni, the girl from the bus crash you worked, Greg's folks adopted her, and they just adopted Cassie, the little girl I found out at the lake; you remember that case, right? Yeah, they've both never been to Disneyland, so it should be a lot of fun."

Nick's normal, unemotional response to the personal slam threw Jack off balance and he didn't know how to respond.

"DB's not getting any fresher!" Cavaliere yelled from the doorway. "Let's go, ladies!"

"Good seein ya, Jack. Tell your wife I said hi." The anxious CSI turned for the door and huffed out some tension.

"Nice job, Nicky." Catherine knew she would have reacted differently. "I would have told him to go to hell, but that's me. You've always been better at diplomacy."

Cavaliere ignored Stokes and spoke directly to Catherine, "The vic is Debbie Lester, age 27. She's only lived here a few months. The neighbor said she had a little boy, but he was sent to live with his grandmother in LA."

Glancing up at the suburban home, Nick said, "Nice house."

"It's a little messy inside the master bedroom." Cavaliere waved the CSIs to follow. "There wasn't a man in the picture. Ms. Lester told the neighbor that her husband died shortly after she gave birth, and she's been moving around trying to find a place to heal and start a new life that wasn't filled with memories of her husband."

Removing her sunglasses, Catherine sighed, "Sounds like a typical bullshit story told to pacify a nosy neighbor. Considering how the story ended for her, I'd guess she was running from a live husband, not a ghost."

"People lie about their personal lives all the time," Cavaliere glanced over at Nick, "isn't that right, Stokes?"

"Like when you say you're goin' home to your wife, but really drivin' to Pahrump to work out a little tension at The Chicken Ranch?" Since it was the truth, Nick didn't expect the detective to protest. "I'll call the lab and have someone research, maybe find the kid's birth certificate. Maybe she listed a daddy."

* * *

"Of course I want the baby to have my last name," Henry informed his girlfriend as he stood in the breakroom holding an empty coffee mug. "Either alone or hyphenated with yours. Baby Andrews or Baby Webster-Andrews." 

"Why not Baby Andrews-Webster?" the Fingerprint Tech asked while twisting open a bottle of juice.

"Because it doesn't flow as well."

"I think it flows better actually." Seeing the Breakroom Informational Wall, Mandy got an idea. "We'll poll our coworkers." She grabbed a black marker and a blank sheet of paper from the supply table." I'll write it up and hang it in the empty spot where Nick's medical records were."

"Don't you think we should ask friends, not coworkers?"

"Do you have any friends who aren't coworkers?"

"No."

"Ditto." Mandy resumed drafting the poll.

"Don't you think we have to know what the baby's first name will be in order to decide which version of the last name sounds better?"

"Good point." After a sip of juice, she shared her favorites, "I like Skye for a girl and Dakota for a boy."

Upon hearing the non-traditional names, the conservative Toxicologist knew a disagreement was inevitable. "I kind of like Victoria and Leo."

"Seriously?" Mandy wrinkled her nose, "I think those are really old fashioned and boring. What made you think of those boring, stuffy names?"

"My grandparents…Victoria and Leo Andrews."

"Oh." Mandy grabbed a second piece of paper. "I'll make a poll about first names too."

* * *

"The dad's name is Keith Buckley." Greg had been helping out with DNA backlog when Nick called him to do a background check. "The fingerprint from the woman belongs to Kelly Buckley, that's how I tracked the birth record." 

"Can you do me a favor and run this Buckley guy? The vic told the neighbor he died right after their son was born."

"Done." Greg chuckled as he grabbed the next paper.

"You already did it?"

"Who knows how to take care of you in more ways than one?"

"Another reason to spoil you on the mystery date."

"That's what I was counting on," Greg chuckled. "Okay, back to business…Keith Buckley is alive and well. He used his Visa card to get a room at The Restin Hotel and Casino at 7pm…a VIP suite. This morning he used it to buy a plane ticket from Nashville to Vegas. In other news, he owns two very successful country western dance clubs in Nashville and graduated at the top of his class from…brace yourself, Cletus."

"No."

"Texas A&M, class of 89."

"I guess even the best places have a few bad apples." Nick's voice hardened, "So Buckley rolls into town, finds his wife, stabs her a dozen times, and then decides to check into The Restin for a little R&R."

"Yeah, you'll really hate this next part," Greg warned. "At The Restin, he ordered the 'I killed my bitch of a wife' celebration package – champagne and strawberries from Room Service. Probably found a girl to share it with too."

"I seriously hate people a little more every night."

Suddenly worried about his hot-headed partner, Greg anxiously said, "Promise me you won't kill the guy when you confront him at The Restin. Don't play superhero either, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'd much rather see him sufferin' in prison than dead."

"Just the same, call me when he's alive and in cuffs."

"I promise, G," Nick replied in a warmer tone.

"Maybe the political focus shouldn't be on banning Gay Marriage," Greg remarked as he stood to return to the DNA Lab. "Maybe it should be on banning **all** marriage. Vartann cheats on his wife and then she nails Sara with a baseball bat, your brother cheats on his wife and destroys his family, I just found out that Danielle in Records is getting a divorce because she found out her husband spent their vacation money on a threesome at Sheri's Ranch, and now this case of love gone wrong."

"Don't get cold feet on me, G."

Greg smiled into the cell phone. "We're really happy right now, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that happiness. If moving our rings to our left hands and saying 'I do' in front of our families is going to make us wield meat cleavers one day and chop each other to itty bitty pieces…I'm just saying."

"Now why would I ever come after you with a meat cleaver when I have a perfectly good gun collection? So stop your worryin', buttercup."

"I feel much better now, Tex, thanks." Greg laughed as he entered the DNA lab. "Okay, I have to get back to my pile of semen stains, which reminds me…I was in such a rush to cook your breakfast, I forgot to toss the sheets in the washer. Me bad."

"I bet you'll be happy when Wendy's back from her trip home for her sister's baby shower."

"For once, I don't mind being stuck in here." Prepping a slide, Greg said, "My plan is to hide in the DNA Lab until us being gay is old news."

* * *

"Look at Stokes all giddy on the phone with his fag boyfriend." Markson shoved a stick of gum in his mouth and offered the pack to Cavaliere. 

Grabbing a piece of gum, the detective said, "I heard through the grapevine that they're planning one of those fake marriages."

"I don't wanna hear shit about it. I'm still having a hard time believing Stokes is queer. Sanders, yeah, that guy always seemed fruity to me, but Stokes…it makes me think any guy could be secretly queer and that makes me sick. I can't believe I'm the only one standing around in shock."

"Believe me, if you were in town the first night the news hit, you would have been in good company."

Feeling nauseated again, Jack Markson said, "Remember that 419 we worked at that gay spa last year? I still can't get what I saw there out of my head. Especially those big hairy guys having an orgy." He shivered.

"I love how they call it a spa," Cavaliere grumbled, "it's a friggin' screw club."

"And a popular one. I drive by there on the way home, the parking lot is always packed."

"Packed with fudge packers," the detective cracked, pleased with his own sense of humor.

Overhearing the conversation, Catherine cleared her throat and said, "Give me a break, gentlemen. If there were legal clubs filled with horny women waiting to have sex with strangers for free and you were single guys, are you telling me you wouldn't join in the fun? Don't waste your breath saying no," she laughed. "Straight guys resent the fact that they have to drop a ton of cash at a brothel if they can't find a women willing to give away the milk for free, while gay men can rent a locker at the spa for twenty bucks, get clean towels, complimentary condoms, and have fun all night. Face it, they have a better system, and that makes you jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Cavaliere countered, "I don't support queers, because two guys getting it on is unnatural and sacrilegious. I was raised a good Catholic boy, Willows, trust me when I say your buddy Stokes will be condemned to hell one day."

"Inside that house there's a mother on the floor stabbed 27 times and down the road Sara is at the hospital collecting an SAE kit on a 7 year old girl," Catherine shook her head. "We're already in hell, Chris, open your eyes. Nick figured that out when he had all that quality time in a coffin, so he's carving out a little unconventional happiness for himself and doesn't give a damn who knows it. More power to him." She started walking to the Denali for supplies, "Unlike you, he has a healthy set of balls and isn't afraid to use them."

* * *

Feeling like a Fertility god, Grissom strolled the halls of the lab with a glorious smile on his face. After three days of trying to inseminate his wife, the Biologist knew that two gametes could be fusing, or if it happened on the first attempt, a zygote could already be dividing for the second, third or fourth time. By the weekend, a 16-cell ball could be dropping into Sara's uterus where it would divide to create placenta and baby. 

Baby…the word was both daunting and extraordinary, just like the word, father.

* * *

"Nick said yes," Carrie excitedly informed her partner as she clutched her cell phone and rocked in her office chair. 

"To being a donor daddy?"

"No, to dinner on Sunday night."

"Ah." Jean laughed, "I thought that was a little fast. What should I make?"

"Something that will make Nick think that his child would be loved and well nourished. He's from Texas, maybe it would be best to make some southern comfort food. But he's real health-conscious, so nothing bad. Maybe you could take some southern classics and create healthy versions."

"How about I just drug him during cocktails and milk him for sperm? That would spare us a hell of a lot of dishes and paperwork."

"Very funny." Carrie smiled into the phone. "But if I just wanted sperm, I'd make a withdrawal from the local bank."

"I know, I know. You want a daddy for your baby. Someone very special with low cholesterol, who can play sports, and leap over tall buildings in a single bound. Just your every day saturated-fat-avoiding jock superhero."

* * *

"Stokes!" Cavaliere shouted when he saw the CSI rushing to catch The Restin hotel elevator. "Take the next one." He hurried to press the 'close door' button, but Nick's boot prevented the doors from shutting. 

"I don't feel like waitin'." The CSI stepped inside, joining the hotel manager, the detective, and Officers Barker, Molia, and Winslow. "Security is pullin' the video feed." He nodded at the fifty-something, impeccably dressed business man. "Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Gallo."

"Just promise me you won't make a mess of the room." Smoothing his hands over his Armani suit, Brian Gallo inserted the manager's key into the elevator and pressed '21' for the VIP floor. "Every time LVPD comes here to question a guest, something ends up broken."

"Maybe you should screen your clientele better," Cavaliere grumbled, "it's not our fault that you let scumbags have rooms."

"It's because I don't want to get sued. I only got this job because the previous manager caused a legal nightmare when he refused a room to a Saudi family because he thought they were a terrorist cell. If a person has the means to acquire a room and isn't violating any policies, I give them one, regardless of gender, race, religion, ethnicity or sexual preference."

"Did you hear that, Stokes?" Officer Josh Winslow, a 24 year old hot shot who looked more like a surfer than a cop, joked, "It's a gay-friendly establishment, so maybe you and Sanders can honeymoon here."

"Yeah." Cavaliere couldn't resist joining in, "My wife and I went to San Diego, but Sin City sounds like a better perfect place for two guys to honeymoon."

"Enough with the gay jokes already," Officer Steve Barker, a 35 year old senior officer, shook his head. "Working with the two of you is like being back in fucking middle school."

"Amen," groaned rookie Officer Teresa Molia. "If I wanted to hang around immature losers all day, I'd be at home with my brothers."

"Mo, come on," Winslow teased the 22 year old newbie who he thought looked like a petite, flat-chested Jennifer Lopez, "you love hanging out with us and you know it."

"Maui," Nick said with a smile. "I'm goin' to Maui on my honeymoon and stayin' in a private house right on the beach. Greg's folks own it. They have a boat there too. When we're not in bed workin' overtime to secure our place in hell, we're gonna snorkel, hike, and go on one of those helicopter rides over a volcano. I can't wait." Grinning at Cavaliere, he said, "Don't worry, I'll bring you back a souvenir shirt that says 'my co-workers went to Maui and all they got me was this lousy t-shirt, because I'm a raging asshole."

The cops burst out laughing.

Unable to think of a good comeback, Chris checked his watch.

"So you're marrying up, huh, Stokes?" Barker teased as the elevator doors opened.

"Definitely." Nick pulled his gun from its holster. "Greg graduated at the top of his class at Stanford and has traveled to Egypt and Paris. He's a renaissance man who writes papers and books, I'm a simple boy from the ranch who likes to watch ESPN and play Xbox. The furthest I've ever been is Cancun."

"Opposites attract," Barker said as they readied in the hall, "my wife and I are nothing alike. I'm a cop, she's the artistic director at Nevada Ballet. It took a while, but we worked everything out. We trade off picking movies and vacations. I'd never admit it to her, but I'm actually starting to like Broadway musicals. We saw Wicked last time, that was actually pretty awesome."

"I like dating my opposite too," Winslow joked, "I don't have tits, but I like my dates to have big ones."

"Ugh." Teresa silently prayed for her transfer to the Evidence Department to come through.

"What's with the guns?" the hotel manager nervously asked. "Guns cause damage."

"Especially to people," Cavaliere replied while drawing his weapon, "so stay here holding the elevator and wait for us to return with the suspect." He grabbed his radio to confirm that all officers were in position. "Let's go." Since the suspect had stabbed his ex-wife with a butcher knife from her own kitchen, he expected the man to be dangerous, but not armed. "Hotel management, Mr. Buckley," he called out after knocking. "I need to talk to you, Sir." Standing directly in front of the peephole he knew the guy would only be able to see him from the shoulders up.

As the door opened, Keith Buckley growled, "It says 'do not disturb' right on the…"

"LVPD!" Cavaliere shouted while pointing his gun at the man's chest. "Hands up where I can see them."

Slowly lifting his hands, Buckley shook his head. "Chill out, man. You have the wrong guy. I don't know who you think I am, but I'm in town on business and..."

"Shut up!" The detective said, "He'll tell you who we think you are."

"Mr. Buckley, I'm CSI Nick Stokes from the LVPD Crime Lab." After stowing his weapon, he stepped forward with a cheery photograph of the vic. "Recognize her?"

"Oh my god." Buckley gulped as he stared at the photo of wife. "Did you find my wife? Did you find Kelly?! Where is she?! How does she look?"

"She was going by the name Debbie Lester." Cavaliere huffed, "And yeah, we found her, right where you left her after you stabbed her two dozen times."

"Wh…what?"

"Keep your hands up!" Officer Winslow barked while moving forward to check the guy for weapons.

"Here's what your wife looks like now." Nick held up a crime scene photo. "You wanna tell us what happened to her, Mr. Buckley? She was stabbed over two dozen times, that tells me it wasn't a random murder, her killer was makin' it personal. What happened?"

Keith looked to the officer. "That woman is covered in blood, how would you know it's Kelly? It's not her. K…Kelly had a birthmark, above her left hip…it looked like Minnie Mouse, that's why I called her Minnie. Did this woman have that? Did you see it? If it's not there, it's not Kelly."

"You mean this birthmark?" Nick held up another photo and pointed. "It's Kelly."

"No!" the husband burst into tears. "Why are you doing this to me?! How did you even know I was here?!"

Cavaliere rolled his eyes, "This is an Oscar worthy performance you're turning out, but the facts are, your wife was hiding in Vegas and we know you showed up here this morning, and then she ended up dead. Can you see why we're a little reluctant to believe your innocence?"

"Why was she hiding from you, man?" Nick stared at the sobbing guy. "Did she cheat on you and piss you off?"

"No! She wasn't hiding, she disappeared!" Buckley cried, "She was taken. Check the police report I filed two years ago. She's a missing person!"

"That case was closed, the detective told you it seemed like she walked off. Right?"

"She didn't leave me," Buckley cried harder. "We were happy. We were trying to have a baby. I told the detective…I told him. He didn't believe me."

"What about your wife's mother? Have you talked to her recently?"

"My wife's parents died in a car wreck when she was ten. She was raised by her Aunt Lilly. She died of breast cancer before I even met my wife."

The sound of the bedroom door opening had the cops and Nick whirling around to see who emerged. All were relieved to see a thirty-something woman with wet blonde hair wearing only a towel.

"What's going on?!" the woman shrilled.

"Who's she?" Cavaliere asked before radioing to the other officers to stand down.

"My…" On the floor on his knees, Buckley choked out, "my business partner, Jessie Lantana. Her father owns fifty percent of my clubs, but doesn't get involved, he has Jessie be his eyes and ears."

"Looks like you two do a little more than business," Nick handed the woman a hotel robe from the bathroom. "Here you go, ma'am. I'm Nick Stokes from the LVPD Crime Lab. Mind tellin' us why you're here?"

Buckley cried as he stared at the bloody photo. "Her shower wasn't working, so she used mine. She has the room across the hall."

"It's five o'clock in the morning."

"We have an early flight back to Nashville," Jessie explained.

"Maybe the birthmark is the same, but it's a different woman." Buckley turned to the Crime Lab guy, "How can be sure it's Kelly?"

"It's simple really." Nick stared at the man, "Unlike people, fingerprints don't lie. And if we find your fingerprints at the crime scene, or on the knife, then we'll know you're lying."

"Would someone tell me what's going on already?" the woman nervously asked, cinching her bathrobe. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Mr. Buckley's wife was found murdered across town this morning and we're here to bring him into the station for questioning. We'll need to talk to you too, ma'am, so you'll want to get dressed and…"

"Oh my god," the woman covered her mouth. "You're not saying he…but his wife's been gone for years and he…" She glanced over at her business partner. "Keith? We're here for a Bar Owners convention. Oh my god." Shaking like a leaf, she asked, "Do you really think he killed her?"

Before Nick could answer, his cell phone rang. "Excuse me, I'm gonna take this call and grab my kit from my truck."

"My stuff is in my room across the hall," Jessie told the officers. "I'll be right back."

"Officer Barker will accompany you across the hall, ma'am." When they were gone, Cavaliere instructed Winslow and Molia, "Take Mr. Buckley to the station. We'll meet you there with the woman."

After Stokes walked by, Winslow yanked the suspect to his feet. "Officer Molia will read your rights in the elevator."

After calling in an update, Chris walked across the hall to hurry things along. "What's taking her so long, Barker?"

"You know women."

Chris huffed over to the bedroom door and knocked, "Ma'am, we have to go."

"Ready." Clutching her purse, Jessie asked, "Just tell me where the police station is and…"

"We'll drive you."

"I don't want to look like a criminal," she snapped. "This is already embarrassing enough."

"Hey, Chris," Nick jogged into the room. "I just got off the phone with Greg and I have reason to believe that Buckley wasn't alone in the…"

"Move and he dies!" Jessie yelled after grabbing the detective's gun and pointing it at his head. "Hands in the air where I can see them." When the cop and the CSI complied, she said, "Kick the hotel door closed with your foot, CSI Stokes." While he did as asked, she removed the detective's radio and phone, stuffing it in her waist band.

"Jessie," Nick tried to reason with her, "there's cops all over and no way out but the front door."

"Not true," she countered, "I heard him order a stand down and tell the other two he'd meet them at the station. We're alone."

Nick shook his head, "There's no way you'll get away with anything here, so how about you stop while things aren't too bad?"

"Turn on your friend," Cavaliere said, trying not to panic. "Cut a deal, sell him out. I promise the DA will give you a good deal if you…"

"I was the one turning out the Oscar worthy performance, Detective. Keith was telling the truth. Okay, gentlemen, guns, radios, and phones on the floor and then kick them past me."

"Ma'am…" Nick calmly began, "one murder is a whole lot different than four. You don't want to…"

"Now do you believe me?!" Jessie screamed after shooting the uniformed officer twice in the chest. "Give me your gun, radio and phone, or the detective is next!"

"Barker!" Nick yelled as he watched his co-worker hit the floor.

"Do what she says, Stokes!" The detective's heart rate soared.

"Okay! Okay! Here it comes." Trying to steady his breathing, Nick kicked everything over and stood with his hands in the air. "Can I help Officer Barker now?"

"Help yourself to his gun, you mean? No."

Nick tried to reason, "Someone probably heard that gunshot, Jessie."

"Are you kidding? You can't hear shit in this place. This is the VIP floor and the walls are thick to protect the privacy of the guests. I tested the theory myself." Tossing the detective's handcuffs on the table in front of her, she ordered, "You can cuff this guy to a chair and gag him, or you can watch him die."

Knowing blood was pouring out of the unconscious cop, Nick rushed to do as asked, "After this, will you get Barker's gun and let me stop the bleeding?"

"You got it half right." Stuffing Barker's gun, radio, and phone in her tote bag, Jessie answered, "Now sit your ass in the other chair and let me cuff and gag you." She yanked the phone cord out of the wall on her way to the table.

"Then what are you gonna do, Jessie?" Nick asked, as he took a seat. "If you manage to get out of the hotel, you'll get twenty minutes lead time at most, and then you'll be running."

Opening Barker's cuffs, she replied, "Luckily I was on the track team once upon a time."

"You go to A&M like Keith?"

"No, I went to a little school called Harvard, ever hear of it?"

"Smart girl, huh?"

"Obviously, since I fooled LVPD's finest." Holding up the open cuffs, she said, "Put your hands behind the back of the chair."

"I think someone's by the door." When the woman momentarily looked away, Nick gripped the seat of the chair and jumped backwards, using the chair and his body weight to knock the woman to the ground. When the gun slipped out of her hands, he dove for it.

Scrambling to her feet, Jessie lunged for her tote bag, hoping to get Barker's gun out before the CSI could turn around.

"Don't move!" Nick breathlessly yelled as the woman stood holding the open tote bag. "Drop the bag. Drop it or I'll shoot you!" When she did, he said, "Good choice, Jessie, now kick it this way and have a seat in that chair you wanted me in." Crouching down, he grabbed the radio to call for help.

She spat at the detective, "should have killed all of you when I had the chance."

"Why'd you kill Kelly?" Nick asked after tossing the radio and using the handcuff keys to free the detective.

"Bitch!" Cavaliere snarled as soon as he was ungagged. Snatching the cuffs that had been used to restrain him, he snapped them on the killer.

"Barker!" Nick raced over to the cop after grabbing towels from the bathroom. "Barker, can you hear me?" He checked for a pulse.

"Yeah," the cop whispered, "I was…pretending to be unconscious. How bad is it?"

Relieved to see the bullets had actually hit the upper right quadrant of the man's chest, and not his heart or belly, the smiling CSI said, "There's a lot of blood, but it didn't hit any major organs, so it looks worse than it is. You're definitely gonna live to see another musical." He pressed a clean towel to the wound. "I know this hurts, but I gotta apply lots of pressure." Trying to distract the cop, he asked, "Hey, what's the next musical your wife's makin' you see?"

"Jersey Boys," the cop panted. "August…for her birthday. My chest hurts."

"What's Jersey Boys about?" Nick asked, trying to sound as cheery as possible. "Besides boys from Jersey."

"Frankie Valli and the…Four Seasons."

"Hey, Greg loves listenin' to them when he's workin' on this Vegas book, 'cause the book is about the 60s. He sings Oh What a Night all the time. Our dog howls with him and between you and me…the dog sounds better."

"What kind of dog?" the cop asked, trying not to panic at the sight of his blood soaking the hotel towel. "

"Yellow Lab."

"My wife picked a Westie. I hate it." Fear finally catching up, the cop's eyes filled with tears. "I fought with my wife before I left for work. Over redoing the kitchen…tile. I didn't want to spend the money. Would you tell her I'm sorry if I don't…"

"You're gonna be okay, man. Really." Nick spoke with conviction as he straddled the cop's thighs and applied more force to the bullet holes. "Ambulance is probably pullin' in right now. You'll get first dibs in the ER and be patched up in no time. Soon you'll be hearin' your Westie yap and arguin' about kitchen tile."

"I didn't kiss her goodbye. I always kiss her goodbye. Today, I didn't…" Tears fell on the cop's cheeks as chills raced through his body. "C…cold."

"Toss me a blanket, Chris!" Nick yelled, "He's startin' to shake. Probably shock."

"As cops burst into the suite, the detective rushed over with a comforter. "Here. EMTs are in the elevator."

"I hope you're not homophobic like Cavaliere here." Nick joked as the blanket went over them, "'Cause we've had to get cozy waitin' on the EMTs."

"I…I could kiss you," Barker shivered. "You saved my life."

Nick glanced up at Cavaliere, "Hey, how about that? The fairy saved the day while the macho man let his guard down and got himself held prisoner and his man shot."

* * *

"There was a shooting at the scene?" Greg asked Grissom. "Who was shot?" His entire body tensed as he stood in the middle of the DNA Lab. "Is Nick…" 

"He's fine, Greg." Grissom took a step closer. "Nick disarmed the suspect after she took Detective Cavaliere's gun and shot an officer."

"Disarmed the suspect." His knees weak, Greg moved to sit on a stool. "As in like what…tackling him and fighting for the gun?"

"Something like that, yes. I didn't get all the details in the call, but…"

Gripping his head, Greg screamed, "I specifically told him not to play hero! Why does he keep doing this shit?! He may think he's Superman, but he's not made of steel! If he's not chasing down child killers, he's talking suicidals out of their weapons, and now he's…what's next, rushing into a burning building or…"

"Greg!" Grissom yelled to get his attention. "Nick's fine and we don't know the whole story. Maybe he risked his life because he believed he would have died otherwise. Let's reserve judgment."

Greg peeled off his gloves and threw them towards the trash. "It's…" His emotions bubbling up, he said, "I used to think it sucked to leave for work every day and not have someone to kiss goodbye, but now I have someone to kiss goodbye and…" He forced oxygen through his nose. "Life may have been boring, but it was a lot less stressful before someone loved me."

"Tell me about it."

"We had this really special time before coming to work and…" Greg's voice trembled, "Our kiss goodbye today, really could have been a kiss goodbye."

"Greg…"

"If you quote Shakespeare or say some other philosophical bullshit, I might kill you!" Greg sucked in a jagged breath. "Sorry. I'm a little tweaked."

Deciding not to cite Shakespeare as planned, Grissom said, "I was going to say, Nick's at the hospital waiting to relay a message to Officer Barker's wife when she arrives. Wanna ride?"

"Yeah." Greg stood and tossed his lab coat. "Thanks."

"I really do know how you feel." Grissom opened the door of the DNA Lab. "It's not easy letting the woman I love walk out of here into potential danger every night. I just have to have faith she'll walk back through the door in the morning."

"And what would you do if she didn't come back one day, Griss?"

"I…" The man who waited his whole life to fall in love, pondered the question for a moment, and said, "I don't know."

* * *

**ANs:**

Did anyone think I was setting up Nicky to take a bullet? He was having a really perfect morning and usually that's the 'Maggs hint of Doom' LOL but all that exercise I've been doing has me in a very upbeat mood, so Nick got to play hero instead of victim. My husband read it and said "I couldn't believe you didn't make Nick suffer and lose a kidney or something." It's the endorphins from exercising LOL

That last Grissom line is a shout out to the current season of course. I have another big shout out in the next chapter.

If anyone read the Carrie part and thinks it's unheard of or crazy, there are actually many successful co-parenting arrangements like the one she is hoping for. There are agencies and websites dedicated to matching up donors, co-parents, etc.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm in those places that are freezing! Thanks for your patience as I write at a slower pace.

Personally my January was great - I managed to write a few chapters, work out, sleep and watch ALL 3 seasons of LOST, which I had never seen and amazingly had remained TOTALLY unspoiled about everything but 'the plane crashes on an island'. It was no small feat! I often had to run from people who started talking about it, or plug my ears and cover my eyes, but I knew one day I'd make the time to watch it and I didn't want anything ruined. My daughter and I had a blast watching it over winter school break – we managed all 3 seasons in 6 days LOL so I can check that off my list of 'things I didn't do because I was too busy writing or volunteering for some huge project'! I also absolutely believe I have LOST completely figured out. I quickly found some Internet crazies who agree with me too, so I know I'm right! LMAO I won't say anything specific in case people are unspoiled/don't like to hear theories, but email if you want to know.

Next Chapter – will post the week of February 4th and I'm working on a special one to post on the eve of Valentine's Day…mystery date time! Among other things : )

**Thanks for reading!  
Maggs**


	27. Chapter 27: Real Men Part 2

**The Day Before You**

**Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 27: Real Men – Part 2**

Standing in the bustling hallway of the Desert Palms ER, Greg watched his partner talking to Officer Barker's wife. They were standing in a treatment cubicle, partially obscured by a hospital curtain, and as the minutes passed, it became apparent that Nick was even more extraordinary than he thought. He was an action hero, a counselor, a teacher, a lover and Greg had no doubt that he'd be a perfect husband. He felt lucky to have him, terrified of losing him, and pathetic for not being half the man he was.

"Greg," Grissom tapped his employee on the shoulder. "If you're okay, I'm going to head up to Pediatrics on the third floor. Sara's up there waiting for…"

"I'm fine. You don't need to stay." The rattled CSI leaned against the wall. "I'm just waiting for Nick to get done talking to Barker's wife before I tell him I'm here. She looks pretty upset, so I don't want to interrupt."

Grissom started walking. "Hey…tell Nick I said good job."

"Good? The guy took on a woman with a loaded gun and then stopped a cop from bleeding out. That sounds like a** great** job to me." Wearing his love and admiration on his sleeve, Greg said, "Now that I think about it, great doesn't cut it either."

"You're absolutely right." Grissom smiled. "Tell Nicky I said fantastic job."

"I will." When Greg turned around, he was thrilled to see Mrs. Barker walking out of the ER cubicle with a nurse. "My turn." He hurried over and peered around the curtain. "Fear not, your goofy sidekick is here, Superman. Do you need your cape taken to the cleaners?"

The sight of his partner smiling at him soothed Nick's shattered nerves. "They called you?"

"Nah, on paper, I'm nothing to you. They called Grissom because he's your boss." Greg slipped behind the curtain and pulled it closed. "I came here the second I heard." He placed his palm on Nick's cheek. "Look at you, not even a scratch. I bet you weren't even scared."

"You'd be losin' that bet." His emotions blindsiding him, the hero's eyes welled. "I was scared shitless when she grabbed Cavaliere's gun, but when she shot Barker in cold blood I was friggin' terrified. She was gonna kill all of us, G."

Greg pulled him close. "You're shaking." He never would have guessed from looking at him.

Closing his eyes, Nick clung to his partner. "Thanks for comin' down here."

Mindlessly running his fingers through Nick's hair, he whispered, "When Grissom walked into the lab and said there was a shooting, I thought he meant you. For a split second I thought, if it had to happen, I was glad it happened today and not last week when we were fighting about stupid stuff because we were overworked and overstressed."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Let's make a deal that we never walk out the door pissed off at each other. Some people don't go to bed mad, I don't care about that, we can sleep mad at each other, but let's never walk out of our house or the Lab or anywhere without things being right." When their foreheads and noses were touching, he whispered, "We can fight in the house, and if we're not home, we can agree to postpone the argument until we get there. How's that for an incredibly ridiculous plan that I absolutely need you to agree to if you're going to keep playing superhero?"

Cupping Greg's face, Nick said, "I just spent the last ten minutes telling Jolie Barker all the things her husband needed her to hear in case he dies in the OR. I don't want a cop to have to tell you I'm sorry for calling you an ungrateful bitch because you're never satisfied with what we have or the size of my paycheck and I don't want a stranger tellin' you that I don't blame you for hating our kitchen tile, it sucks."

"I love our kitchen tile," Greg chuckled, happy for a reason to laugh.

"No you don't. You don't even like the house, G. You wanted a massive warehouse apartment with giant skylights, huge windows, and a spiral staircase leading to a bitchen loft bedroom."

"My dad told you that."

"Yeah, a few weeks ago, he said those were your exact words. Why did he have to tell me what you really wanted? I don't want a sidekick, G, I want a partner. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because what I wanted in 1994 seemed irrelevant in 2007. In 1994 I thought using words like 'bitchen' made me cool. I wanted a Porsche, a million bucks, a D-cup babe on each arm, and a boy toy at my beck and call. Hello? I was an immature idiot. A 20 year old virgin with punk hair and a Habitrail in his bedroom doesn't have a clue about living happily ever after as a grown up and I'm really ticked at my dad for not putting the comment in context."

"You had a Habitrail in your bedroom when you were 20?"

"Kind of solves the virginity mystery, doesn't it?"

"Definitely." While the world around him remained invisible, Nick said, "If you don't want kids, you know you can tell me, right? I promise I won't go anywhere."

"I don't know if I want kids," Greg answered, "I promise I'm not lying to string you along because I'm afraid you'll leave. I really just don't know. I don't know if I can handle it. I can barely handle the idea that you might go to work one night and die, leaving me alone. I can't imagine how it would feel to also have a kid to raise on my own if that happened. I don't know how or when I'll know for sure, but when it comes to me, you won't have to hear it from my dad."

"After what almost happened, I just want to make sure everything's out in the open between us, y'know? There's compromise in marriage and then there's livin' for someone else. I don't want to find out in the eleventh hour that you gave up your dreams for me, because whether you believe it or not, I'm not worth any more than you are and either are my dreams. You have a track record of sellin' yourself short, so it's not always easy to believe you."

"And you have a track record of lying to make me feel better about myself, so it's not always easy to believe you."

"What?"

"Like tonight when you said I was great in bed."

Nick stuffed his hands on his hips. "Honey, I watched four hours of porn the other night just so I could be a better lover. If I thought my skills were vastly superior, why would I go through the trouble of improving on them? Hmm? Ever think of that? Those words and moans were 100 percent real." He winked, "I also meant it when I said your burrito was damn good."

Greg laughed, releasing a little more tension. "Okay, okay, I'll believe I'm a burrito and sex god, if you'll believe I'm happy with our kitchen tile and lack of a_ bitchen_ loft."

"Deal."

"So we're good?"

"No, we're fantastic."

Nick took a cleansing breath. "Alright then, if we get hit by a bus walkin' out of the hospital, we'll die knowing we loved each other. Now kiss me before we step out from behind the curtain and have to pretend we're not crazy about each other."

Lost in a lip lock, the two CSIs didn't immediately notice their protective curtain being tugged aside by a nurse.

"Sorry!" Nurse Suzi Weaver felt terrible for exposing the kissing men to the ER waiting area full of cops. "I should have asked if anyone was behind here. It's only my second week. We have two ambulances coming in and I was told to prep this cubicle, sorry."

"It's okay," Nick assured the rambling red-head. "No harm done." Though from the looks on Markson and Winslow's faces, he doubted his statement was true. "We'll get out of your way." He released Greg's hand and stepped into the hall. "You hungry, G?"

Greg could feel every police officer's stare burning into his flesh. "Uh…" Proud of his partner and tired of dirty looks, he pointed at Nick and informed LVPD's finest, "Yeah, that's my boyfriend. The hero thing totally makes up for him loving country music and ESPN. We have a house in the 'burbs, a yellow lab named Chico, and dream of having kids one day. We're just your average boring suburban queers. We're monogamous, neither one of us has ever been to a bathhouse, we're both HIV negative, and Nick's never seen an episode of Queer as Folk. I know you were probably thinking our life was pretty scandalous, but it's not, so, move along, nothing to stare at here."

"Sorry," Teresa Molia, the token female cop in the group, nervously said, "I…I didn't mean to stare. I've just never seen two guys…you know…kissing. Well, except for Tom Selleck and Kevin Kline in that movie In and Out and that was on TV and it was a repeat on Lifetime so I'm sure they couldn't use tongues, not that I'm saying you were! Not that I'm saying you shouldn't!" Feeling all eyes on her, she frantically tried to explain, "I'm not close-minded, really, I'm not, it's just…I'm the only girl in a family of seven and we're Catholic, like** really** Catholic, like my mom has a whole closet full of Jesus candles and I've never even watched Sex in the City. It was kind of like 'wow, two hot guys are kissing, I've never seen that', so I couldn't stop watching, even after you were done. " She covered her face. "I'm just digging the hole deeper, aren't I?"

Winslow, the 24 year old hot shot laughed at his co-worker, "Any deeper and you'll have a front row seat for the Olympics in Beijing."

"You think I'm hot?" Greg asked the cop who looked like a mini J Lo.

"G." Nick shot his partner a look.

"Didn't she say '**two** hot guys kissing'?" Greg informed his partner, "You hear that all the time, but for me it's a novelty. Let me have my moment in the sun, dude."

"Mr. Stokes!" Jolie Barker came bounding over to her husband's rescuer. "I just spoke with the nurse and she said they already have the bullets out and are patching up. He's going to be weak from the blood loss and the trauma, but no serious damage."

"That's great, Jolie." Nick filled with relief and joy. "I told you he wasn't ready to quit."

"If it wasn't for you stopping the bleeding, it wouldn't have been a happy ending." Flicking her tears, she whispered, "Steve doesn't know yet, but I'm pregnant. I was planning to surprise him with the news this weekend." Tossing her arms around the man, she cried, "Thank you for keeping my baby's daddy alive."

"Yep, that's my boyfriend," Greg sighed and turned to the cops. "My parents totally approve."

Teresa burst out laughing, "I'm sure they do. If I brought him home, my father would light cigars and my mother would start knitting booties."

Still reeling from the shock of his former workout buddy being gay, Markson felt obligated to provide a reality check. "Stokes saving the day doesn't change **what he is** or the fact he's been **lying **about **what he is**!"

"Hey." From the corner of the waiting area, Cavaliere spoke for the first time since arriving. "Not the time or place, Jack."

"You're not the one Stokes was working out with, Chris!" Markson pointed at the liar. "I never would have let him spot me or hit the showers with me if I knew he was queer! He** knew** that, so he lied to my face and put his hands on me every chance he got."

Hoping to joke away the tension, Nick stepped forward and said, "I wasn't lying, I was in the closet, and I wasn't hittin' on you. You're not even my type, man. Look at who I'm marryin'. I like brainy guys." When Markson's fist connected with his cheek, Nick realized joking was a bad choice in this instance. And when he was thrown against a hospital wall, he knew Markson actually believed he had been groped. "I swear I wasn't…"

"Markson!" Cavaliere and Winslow yelled at their fellow officer as Nick's head hit the edge of the wall and his body crashed to the floor.

"Oh my God he's bleeding!" Jolie Barker shrieked when she saw blood on Nick's face. It all seemed to happen in a split second. "We need a doctor!" She ran down the hall. "Help!"

"Get up, Stokes!" Markson screamed as he shoved away Winslow and kicked the CSI. "Get up, you homo piece of shit!"

Instinct taking over, Greg charged at the raging cop. "Leave him alone!"

"Stay out of it!" The outraged cop pushed Sanders into a chair.

"Don't touch him!" Greg had been forced to take a comprehensive self-defense and combat course after getting beaten on the job, but he never imagined using the moves, especially not against another member of LVPD. "Don't touch him!" Much to his surprise, the combat techniques actually worked as promised, even against a much bigger guy. "Stop it!" The hospital suddenly changed to an alleyway and Markson morphed into a gang member, instead of a cop. "Get off me!" He knew he had to fight to live. "Get off me!"

"Sanders!" Cavaliere worked with Winslow and Molia to restrain the CSI. "He's out! Stop!"

Looking down, Greg saw blood spatter on his shirt.

"He was knocked out when you slammed his head into the supply cart." Panting from the struggle, Winslow said, "He's out, he's not hurting you!"

"G!" While three cops and a hospital security guard restrained his partner, Nick stepped in front of him and cupped his face. "G, it's okay. I'm okay. G! Look at me! It's just a little blood."

"Nick?" The darkness of the alley was suddenly replaced by the sights and sounds of a bright white hospital. "Am I gonna die?" Greg asked, thinking he was on a stretcher. "How bad is it? Where's Sara? She said she'd stay. I can't move. Am I paralyzed? You're bleeding. They got you too?"

"You're fine. We're both okay. You can't move because three cops and a security guard are holding your arms and legs." Nick put his hands on his partner's shoulders. "Let him go, I've got him."

"No way!" Winslow didn't think letting go was a good idea. "Did you see what he did to Markson's nose?!"

Knowing Sanders's background, Cavaliere said, "You think it's PTSD, Stokes?"

"Yeah, I have a little experience with it myself." Nick took his partner by the wrists. "It really messes with your head, makes things seem real. You're fine, G. You don't have a scratch on you."

"Wh…what happened?" Greg asked, the haze starting to lift. "He punched you." Seeing Officer Markson's bloody face as he moaned on the floor, he asked, "Did you do that?"

"No," Nick replied, "you did."

Glancing down at his hands, Greg saw blood and started trembling. "I…"

"We need to treat your laceration, sir." The nurse motioned for the CSI to follow her. "You can't stand in the middle of the hall dripping blood. Exam room 4, please."

"**I **did that?" Greg let Nick lead him down the hall by the wrist. "I did that?"

* * *

"The neighbor did it," Sara lifelessly told her husband as they sat on a bench in the hospital courtyard. "The eleven year old neighbor. We have a seven year old victim and an eleven year old rapist who among other things, used an action figure." 

"Sara…"

"I can't do this anymore."

"Honey…"

"Don't." Holding an empty Styrofoam cup in her trembling hand, the distraught CSI said, "I've tried so hard to be like you. I've watched you and listened to you, but here I am…still not you. I can't** not** feel this." Tears loading in her eyes, her mouth quivered, "Because if I don't feel this…it's like there's a line in the sand and if I cross it, I know there's no coming back. I have to feel this and say I can't take it anymore, because if I don't, I think I'll either lose my mind, or stop being human and I don't want either to happen."

"What are you saying" Gil softly asked, unsure if he should take his wife's hand.

"I'm saying…" She let the tears flow without wiping them. "I'm saying that I want to kill an eleven year old boy for what he did to a sweet, innocent seven year old girl and that in itself isn't healthy. But if I did kill him, I wouldn't feel bad, and that's not just unhealthy, it's…I don't even know what it is. I have murder on my mind, not solving one, committing one."

"I think you're just traumatized by what you saw, Sara."

"**You think?!**" She jumped to her feet. "I can't believe you're excited about bringing a child into this world! Eleven year old rapists?! He tied her up with a pink princess jump rope! Do you think she's still dreaming of castles and princes today?!"

Gil stood to reason with her. "Sara…"

"Don't touch me!"

He shoved his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"For starters you could actually** listen** to what I'm saying and **hear **me!"

"Okay, okay, I'm listening. Look at me, Sara. Talk to me." Fearing for their future, Gil pleaded with his eyes. "What do you need me to do?"

"I..." It was impossible to instruct him since she didn't know herself. "I need you to um..." Suddenly it became crystal clear. "Here's what you can do for me." Taking a deep breath, she unclipped her ID badge from her shirt. "I need you to take that in and tell them I quit. Can you do that for me?"

"I…" His gut told him that if he protested or encouraged her to rethink the decision, she'd walk out the door and keep going. "I'll do it right now."

"Thank you." She handed over her gun and her pager. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" He hoped she meant the hospital.

"I'm going home to take Bruno for a nice long walk and then I'm going to climb into bed and mindlessly watch stupid TV shows and pretend that I don't know what's happening all around me."

"Call me if there's anything you need."

Sara nodded and started down the path and away from the line in the sand. "I'll see you at home."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home and I'm not alone," Dave Sanders announced as he walked into his house with his son. "3, 2, 1…" 

"Gregory!" Jan came charging into the living room, the strings of her apron flying behind her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mom." He returned her hug and smiled at his father who had bet him twenty bucks that Jan would be suffocating him before he made it out of the foyer.

"Twenty bucks." Dave tossed his keys on the entry table and rescued his son from the choking embrace. "He says he's not hungry, but Nick told me he hasn't eaten since 9 o'clock last night, so he needs to eat something. Maybe some breakfast." Nick had called and asked him to pick up Greg and keep an eye on him until he was done giving statements about what happened at the crime scene and the hospital.

"Waffles and bacon?" the doting mother asked. "Or pigs in a blanket?"

"Toast will be fine, thanks."

"You need more than toast if you haven't…" When Jan saw her husband give her the 'don't push' stare, she backed off. "Toast and juice it is." She scurried ahead. "I'll make some eggs just in case."

"Thanks." Greg followed his parents to the kitchen. "Smells like fresh paint. I thought you had everything done before you moved in?"

"We did," Jan explained, 'the girls are painting Tawny's room. She's going to stay in the guest suite. I told you that, right?"

"I'm sure you did."

Dave reminded his wife, "He's a little preoccupied, honey."

To alleviate her own stress, Jan kept yammering. "We put the old guest room furniture in there and then we gave her a budget of $500 to fix it up anyway she'd like, bedding, paint, whatever. Considering her wardrobe was centered around animal prints, black leather, and hot pink, her decorating choices pleasantly surprised me. I never would have guessed she was a floral girl at heart."

"Dad, can I borrow a shirt?" Underneath his zippered sweat shirt, Greg was still wearing a tee covered in Markson's blood spatter.

"We spilled paint, Dad!" Jenni's voice called out from down the hall. "Can you help?!"

"Sure, pick anything in my closet, son." Dave darted down the hall yelling, "Don't smear it into the carpet, girls! Let me do it!"

"Be right back, Mom." Greg returned to the living room and hurried upstairs to his parents' huge master bedroom suite.

* * *

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Sara stared at her shoes and wondered what she might want to do for the rest of her life. "You think I'd make a good dog walker, Bruno?" 

Sensing something was wrong, the boxer padded over and sat at his owner's feet.

Believing the dog was smiling at her, she scratched his head. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

The dog rested his head on his owner's knee.

"You wanna watch TV with me?" When the dog jumped on the bed, Sara crawled under the covers. "I don't know when I'll come out."

* * *

Knowing the blood stains would never come out of his favorite t-shirt, Greg shoved it in a plastic garbage bag that he had snagged from the linen closet. After tying a knot with the handles, he tossed it in the trash and moved to the sink to wash his chest, which was stained from the blood soaking through his shirt. 

Once he was done drying his body, he opened his mother's medicine cabinet and looked for Diazepam. "2, 5 and 10 mg bottles. I knew I could count on you, Jan." He popped two 5mg pills in his mouth and downed them with a handful of water. "20 minutes and I'll be snoozin' soundly." So he'd have some at home, he dumped a bunch of pills in a small Ziploc bag that he had taken from the linen closet.

"This brings back memories," Dave remarked while shutting the bathroom door behind him. "None of them good."

_Shit._ Turning to face his father, Greg explained, "If I go to my regular doctor or get something filled at the pharmacy, it'll be on my insurance and the department will know and think I have a problem."

"And stealing pills and sneaking them home in a Ziploc bag is supposed to make me think you **don't **have a problem?"

Greg tossed the baggie on the counter. "Whatever. Keep 'em."

"Have you forgotten that you told me the reason Nick was controlling with you is that he caught you abusing painkillers and has to watch you closely?" Dave poured the pills into the correct bottle and shut the medicine cabinet. "Your mother was there too, so don't bother denying it."

"I did say that, didn't I?"

"Yes, in your kitchen, right after getting pissed at me for accusing you of lying and right before you told me that Nick bruised you during sex because he was a panicky virgin, which I didn't buy for a second."

"I really suck at lying, don't I?" While his father nodded, Greg slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. "Yeah, I was serving you a big plate of bullshit that day in the kitchen. I was tired of defending Nick and was desperate to get you off his case, so I threw myself under the bus to save him some grief. Not that you're going to believe anything I say now, since it's been established I'm a thief and liar."

"Try me." Dave took a seat next to his. "Tell me how the bruise really happened."

Pulling his knees to his chest, Greg wrapped his arms around them. "I was being an immature idiot, driving Nick insane and hurting his feelings. I didn't mean to be a smart ass when he was pouring his heart out to me, it was just a nervous reaction. The only other person who ever told me they loved was Lacey, and that didn't end well, so the more emotionally intense Nick got, the more my subconscious tried to undermine him. I kept cracking jokes and he kept asking me to stop and listen to what he had to say, because it was really important, and after I promised for the fourth time only to crack a joke right as he was saying he wanted to spend the rest of his life me, he screamed 'forget it' and shoved me out of his way so he could bolt. He didn't mean to shove me so hard, but he was pumped with adrenaline, and I really do bruise easily."

"Has anything like that happened since?"

"No. I swear. Nick felt horrible when he saw the bruise, but ultimately the argument got us to say what we both needed to say and we ended up much closer to one another. It also changed the dynamics of our love life in a really positive and equalizing way if you catch my drift."

"Got it."

Greg glanced over at his father. "Mom told me she chucked a toaster at your head the day before your wedding. She said Nana Olaf had to cover your bruise with makeup so it wouldn't show up in the photos."

"I had forgotten all about that." Dave smiled at the memory. "Your mother was going crazy over wedding details and I made some smart ass remark about napkins and she lost it. Honestly, she was justified in tossing a toaster my way, because she had worked tirelessly to make our wedding the best day of our lives and what I said made it seem like her efforts weren't appreciated. The truth was, the size of the event and the preparations had me terrified and the smart ass remark was my nerves coming to a head. I guess you and I are more alike than we thought."

"I guess so." After a moment of silence, Greg quietly said, "I don't have a drug problem, Dad. I'm just having a rough day and I know what happened today is going to bring my nightmares back and then I won't be able to sleep. I wanted to chill today and then I wanted to have some pills on hand in case I couldn't sleep. I have plenty of Vicodin at home, but that makes me hyper, not mellow. If I go to the doctor asking for anxiety meds, they'll have me back in counseling and flag my file. I don't want that to happen, because this is a temporary thing I'm going through and I know I'll be better in a few days."

Without a word, Dave rose to his feet and walked over to the medicine cabinet. "Here." He tossed the 5mg bottle at his son. "Now you don't look like a drug dealer."

"You're giving me the bottle?" Greg stood and stared in confusion.

"If I had the night you had, or the year you've had, I don't imagine I'd be sleeping well either. I'd rather give you pills and know you're sleeping, than have you at crime scenes exhausted and distracted. It's a judgment call. Time will tell if it's the wrong call." He dropped his hands on his son's shoulders. "I trust you. Now give me a hug."

"Thanks, Dad."

"What's really on your mind?"

Feeling safe in his father's arms, Greg whispered, "Today I remembered why I didn't get close to anyone since Lacey. You can't lose someone if you don't have someone. A part of me wishes I never said 'I love you', a part of me wants to take off my ring and run, because what are the odds of a happy ending? The city is filled with psychos and if they don't kill you, there's like a dozen fatal traffic accidents a day to get you. Nick survived a gun being pointed at him only to get pounded by some hate-filled homophobic jock. It's only a matter of time until I'm alone again and the wait is eating me alive."

Wiping his son's tears, Dave said, "You may as well have died in that alley if you're not going to live."

Another round of tears flowed. "It's just hard, Dad. The not knowing how it's going to end is torture."

"Then let me solve the mystery for you." Dave rested his hands on his son's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "There are three possibilities - you die first and Nick misses you, or Nick dies first and you miss him, or you die together. That's how it's going to happen. There's no way of knowing when. You may get forty more years together, you may get forty more days, or a meteor could hit this house forty seconds from now. How do you get over not caring about when? You ask yourself, does anyone die thinking 'I wish I had spent my life alone and safe in a padded room instead of loving someone' or 'if only I hadn't loved my spouse so much for the last 20 years, dying would be so much easier'? I really doubt it."

Greg stepped back and nodded. "I know you're right in theory."

"Greg, do you have any idea how hard it was for your mother and me to try for a third child after grieving for two stillborn babies?"

"No, I don't know how you did it."

"We said it would be more painful to give up our dream than to suffer a loss for a third time. We lived in fear for nine months and then you were born and every second of suffering that we had endured up until that moment disappeared, and all we felt was joy. That's what I think death will be like. I think in those final moments, all the bad I've endured will slip away and all that will be left is the joy I've experienced. Then the joy will consume me and I'll feel overwhelmed and content with how my life turned out. If you don't live, what's going to be there at the end when the bad slips away? Nothing."

Greg sniffled and reached for a tissue. "When did you become a philosopher, Dad?"

"When every man does," the 61 year old chuckled, "on my 60th birthday. You suddenly have this overwhelming need to make sense of your life and ensure that you're leaving something worthwhile behind."

"Is that why you're trying so hard to make me someone you can be proud of?"

"How much Valium did you take, son?"

"10 mg."

"Exhausted and on an empty stomach?"

"Of course. Diazepam starts to metabolize in 15 minutes under those conditions." Greg took a moment to lecture his father, "Now that you have three young ladies with emotional problems living in the house, I'd recommend keeping all prescription meds locked up. Just in case."

"Good point. C'mon." Dave guided his son out of the bathroom and over to the bed. "Sit while I get you a shirt."

Greg used the time to ponder his father's words. "You're right, Dad. I'm going to seize the day. Carpe diem!"

"That's the spirit." Dave tugged a white t-shirt over his son's head followed by a Stanford sweatshirt. "Comfy?"

"Thanks, Daddy," he joked.

Smiling, Dave pulled back the covers and helped him get situated. "Two pillows enough?"

"This is a really comfortable bed."

"It's a sleep number bed. I'm a 30, your mother's a 70."

"I guess that makes me a 50. Wait…are the sheets clean?" Greg cringed. "I'll be totally squicked if I'm sleeping on parental sex remnants."

Dave burst out laughing. "They're fresh out of the laundry."

Greg sighed, "I'm going to get some rest, and then I'm going to go home and carpe diem with Nick, two, maybe three times, because you never know when the last time will be the last time."

"Did you swipe some of my Levitra too?"

"Nah," Greg giggled, "I got my own bottle at home. Every once in a while we like to have a marathon."

"I wish that stuff had been around when your mother was in her 30s. I felt like an exhausted stud horse every time she had a hormonal surge."

"That's what's great about living with a guy…no hormonal fluctuation."

"After sex I bet you don't have to worry about staying awake, right? You're both guys, you probably both pass out."

"That's a huuuuuge perk."

"Does Nick ever say he has a headache and cut you off?"

"Of course not, he's a guy. We're perfectly equally horny when we're not exhausted."

"But are you perfectly equally happy?"

"Yeah," Greg replied in a groggy voice. "Today I woke up to the feel of Nick's warm hands gliding over my body while he whispered, 'I need you'. A year ago I was waking up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock and the highlight of my day was jacking off in the shower. You're right, Dad, I'm glad I took a chance on love, because I don't want to be thinking fondly of my right hand when I die."

"You better stop talking before you say something even more embarrassing."

"Are you still bummed I'm gay?"

"Yes," Dave ran his fingers through his son's hair, "because you're living in an intolerant world. Nick has seven stitches in his head just because he's gay. That bums me out, Greg. But I love you, and I'm thrilled that you know what it feels like to be loved by someone. I'm happy that you got to experience what it's like to wake up to someone begging you to make love to them, and I'm relieved that you won't be thinking fondly of your right hand on the day you die. It doesn't matter to me that the someone is a guy, but I'm bummed that you're gay in an intolerant world. Is that a good answer?"

"No," Greg shook his head, "it's a fantastic answer."

Dave nostalgically placed a kiss on his son's forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too Dad," Greg whispered, sleep coming on strong. "Thanks for having the balls to go for a third kid after watching two die." He gave up trying to keep his eyes open. "Right after I sleep off this stolen Valium, I promise I'm gonna cowboy up and start living my life in a way that makes you proud. I think I may even grow a set and have a kid one day."

"I'm sure you will." Reclining against the pillows, Dave decided to spend a little time watching his son breathe and counting his blessings.

* * *

"I'm pregnant," Mandy confessed to her parents through the safety of her telephone. "And in true Afterschool Special fashion, it happened because we were both drunk and careless. Don't worry though, he's a very healthy, intelligent, responsible guy. His name is Henry Andrews, he's the lead Toxicologist at the lab. We're dating right now, but it's too soon to tell if we'll be ready to make a bigger commitment. We're taking it one day at a time." She braced for her conservative parents' reaction. 

"Does this mean you're not a lesbian?" Pauline Webster asked with optimism in her voice.

"What?" Mandy gaped at the phone. "No, Ma, I'm not a lesbian."

"She's not a lesbian, Harold!"

"I tell you I'm single and pregnant and all you do is rejoice that I'm not a lesbian?"

"We've been worried and wondering for years, dear. Especially after you cut your hair recently. Why do you think we tried to fix you up with men so many times?"

"I just thought you were into torturing me." She rolled her eyes. "If I had known getting knocked up would end the blind dates from hell, I would have wantonly spread my legs years ago."

"Enough with the potty mouth, Mandy-Lynn, you have an impressionable baby in your belly."

* * *

"How was your sister's baby shower, Simms?" Hodges shifted the phone to his left ear and reclined on his couch. 

"As sappy as I thought it would be."

"I knew you'd miss me and call."

"It's Greg I miss. He's supposed to be covering for me, but he's not answering or returning my calls. I was expecting some results from DC and he was supposed to call me this morning."

"Sanders was too busy kicking ass to call you."

"What?" Wendy laughed. "Greg's a lover not a fighter, what are you talking about?"

"You shouldn't leave town, Simms. All hell breaks loose when you're gone." _And I miss you._ Settling against the cushions, the lonely scientist spoke slowly to maximize his time with his dream girl. "A suspect grabbed Detective Cavaliere's gun and held it to his head after using it to shoot a cop. Nick, in true superhero form, managed to disarm the suspect, free the detective, and save the cop from bleeding out."

"Whoa."

"Don't waste your time getting hot and bothered, Simms, he likes boys remember? And everyone knows cerebral men make the best lovers. Case in point, Sara didn't smile until Grissom boned her, did she?"

"You're a pig."

"Hey! You're the one who called me looking for phone sex."

"I'm hanging up now."

"But I didn't tell you about Sanders!"

"I'll call someone else."

The harsh sound of a dial tone came as a surprise. "I thought she was bluffing." Sighing, he clicked off the phone and tossed it on the coffee table between his Dukes of Hazzard Box Set and an empty bag of Salsa Verde Doritos. "I guess she's still determined to play hard to get."

* * *

"It's easy, Stokes." Ecklie took a seat on the edge of his desk. "All you have to do is press charges and Markson is off the force." 

"I'm not going to press charges." Shifting uncomfortably in the guest chair, the exhausted CSI cleared his throat.

"It was a hate-based crime, Nick. If he wasn't a cop you would press charges. Are you afraid of retaliation? Trouble on the job?"

"He didn't punch me because I'm gay. He punched because he believed I lied and took advantage of him. He really believes I was coppin' feels and checkin' him out in the shower."

"Were you?" Ecklie asked, his eyes narrowed on the cowboy of his deepest fantasies.

Not expecting the invasive question, Nick fell silent.

"What does silence in the interrogation room mean, Stokes?" Ecklie slid into the chair next to the CSI. "Everyone has fantasies, a secret crush or two. Maybe you feel guilty because you were attracted to Markson."

Remembering Greg's theory that Ecklie was secretly lusting after some Texas ass, Nick shifted away as far as his chair would allow. "It is guilt that's makin' me not press charges, guilt over misrepresenting myself to Markson even if it was because I couldn't be truthful with myself. If I was in his shoes, I'd feel betrayed. I don't like betrayal much myself. It makes me angry too."

"Anger's fine, but he was violent. He crossed the line."

Nick shrugged. "Where I come from, guys tend to settle things with punches, not words. Markson kicked my ass for bein' a liar, then Greg kicked Markson's ass for touching his man. If I don't press charges, Markson will feel things are settled between us. More importantly, if I don't press charges, Greg has the last word. He defended me and he proved that he can kick someone's ass when he needs to. It allows both Markson and Greg to feel like men."

"And what about you, Nick? What will it look like for you?" Puzzled, intrigued and enamored by the man, Ecklie sat waiting for an answer.

"I'll look like one of the boys for letting things be settled and not ruining Markson's career. More importantly, unlike my Bible-thumping sisters, I'll be practicing what I learned in Sunday School – some good 'ol fashion Christian forgiveness. So, bottom line, it's a win-win for everyone, it lets all of us go back to doin' our jobs and it doesn't ruin life for Markson's wife and three kids."

Wishing he could be half the man that Stokes was, Ecklie's admiration doubled. "It's awfully generous of you to be concerned about another man's family."

At peace with his decision, Nick serenely replied, "I'm a family guy."

* * *

"Stokes let his own brother rot in jail," Jack Markson told his wife as she handed him a fresh ice pack for his broken nose, "so I don't think he's going to do me any favors. I heard he had to get 7 stitches in his head, that's 7 great reasons to want me behind bars." Fear consuming him, the cop clutched his throbbing head. "His father is on the Supreme Court of Texas, so I'm sure a civil suit will follow the criminal charges." Sitting in his favorite recliner, the tough as nails police officer began to cry. "I'm sorry, honey." He couldn't imagine telling his retired police officer father the news. "I'm so sorry." 

"It's too late for sorry, Jack." The frantic mother of three paced the living room, obsessively tucking her bobbed blonde hair behind her eyes. "We have two hundred dollars left in our savings account after the Disney trip. We can't afford a good lawyer. We're going to lose our house. We're going to lose everything! How could you do this to us?!" She stood in front of her husband crying. "The guy had just saved a fellow officer's life and you decide to beat the crap out of him because you think he pressed his crotch into your ass at the gym?! For **that **I'm going to lose my home?! For **that **your kids aren't going to eat?!"

"I don't know why I…" The ring of the house phone startled him. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Like I do?" Tears streaming down her cheeks, the distraught wife walked towards the kitchen to answer the phone.

Alone in the living room, Markson stared at the family photos on the mantle and wished he could rewind the last 24 hours.

"Stokes isn't pressing charges."

"What?" Markson gaped at his wife. "Who…"

"That was your boss, you get to keep your job." Tears of relief poured from her eyes. "You're suspended for two weeks without pay, have to do community service, and take a sensitivity training course."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Simms." Hodges decided to leave a groveling message on his co-worker's voice mail. "I was joking, but as usual, my jokes weren't very funny." He glanced at his Felix the Cat clock. "It's noon, I'm going to grab some sleep, but if there's anything you need me to check on for you, leave a message on my cell and I'll go in early to handle it. Anyway, that's it. I'll be here if you need me." Ending the call, he dreamily sighed, "Oh how I wish you needed me." When he saw a green light on top of his phone receiver he realized he hadn't disconnected the call and scrambled to cover the admission, "Needed me to um…uh…check on other things for you. So I could make up for being so insensitive earlier. Okay then. Bye." 

After making sure the phone was off, he tossed it onto the bed and collapsed against the pillows. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

* * *

"I thought you were kidding when you said Greg is a genius," Tawny remarked as she sat at the kitchen island reading his published science paper. "But since I can't even say some of the words in the article, I'm guessing you weren't kidding." 

"No, dear, I wasn't." Jan carefully removed a blender full of raspberry fruit smoothie and filled three glasses. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Staring at the purple smoothie with a perfect dollop of Cool Whip and a raspberry on top, Tawny smiled. "Greg must have loved growing up with you for a mom. I bet you made toll house cookies for all the neighborhood kids and were the hit of every bake sale."

"My cakes were always the first selected at the school carnival cake walk."

"No doubt."

"But you know what I never got to do that I always wanted to do?" Jan plunked raspberries on two more smoothies. "Be a Girl Scout Leader."

"My mom was one for like two weeks. She sucked at it, because she was always drunk, so the other moms told her they didn't need her help." Taking a sip of smoothie, Tawny said, "My dad took me to the father-daughter dance every year. That was fun. Cassie's still young enough to be a scout, maybe she'll sign up and let you live your dream." Grinning she added, "And maybe I'll pop out a girl baby and you can be a kickass grandma Girl Scout Leader."

"You really think you could be a surrogate, Tawny? You just turned 20, how can be sure?"

After sampling her smoothie, Tawny replied, "I know what it's like to want something really bad and not be able to have it. I know you do too, Jan. Greg told me about his sisters that didn't make it. That's why you're sad about not being a Girl Scout Leader, right?"

"I didn't know he told you about that."

"I was 15 when my dad died and every night I prayed for him to come back. Obviously I wasn't going to get my dad back, but that didn't stop me from asking. Then when my mom's boyfriend started touching me, I prayed for him to go away, but I didn't get that either."

Seeing tears in the girl's eyes, Jan moved around the counter and took a seat next to her.

"Four years ago, when my mom kicked me out, I started praying for a safe home. By 2005, I realized I had to get a little more practical, so I stopped praying and started using my body to find a guy who would pull a Richard Gere in Pretty Woman and rescue me. I really believed a guy would show up at a strip club one night and see me for more than a piece of ass. The best offer I ever got was five grand for two weeks at The Mirage with this five foot tall Japanese businessman who smelled funky and had a foot fetish, but didn't want to have sex. My rent was due, so..." Clutching her smoothie glass, Tawny said, "Last week I was living in a studio apartment wondering what or who I'd have to do to pay my bills and look at me now…I'm living in a safe house with a great family. It feels like I won the lottery."

"Oh, honey." She handed over a napkin and took one for herself.

"Apparently God had a really big prayer backlog, but you guys were worth the wait." Wiping her tears in sync with Jan, she shared, "My mom said I'd never amount to anything, that I was nothing but a worthless tramp. She said I would never do anything good or important in my entire life. Until now, she's been right, but everything's about to change. I'm going to have two babies and get a college degree. I'm going to make you, Mr. S, Greg, and Nick happy, like you deserve to be. Then I'm going to use the college degree to make something of myself. When all is said and done, I'm gonna buy a real classy business suit and fly to Kansas. The next morning, I'm gonna track down that nasty bitch to say 'you were wrong about me, Mama. Go to hell.'."

"That's the stuff country songs are made of," Nick remarked from his position in the doorway.

"Nicky." Jan burst into a smile. "How did you get in?"

"Dave's out front waitin' on the girls to get back from the mailbox, so he let me in. He told me Greg's gonna be sleepin' for hours."

"Yeah, he downed 10mg of Valium on an empty stomach, so I don't expect to see him up and about until at least 6pm." Jan jumped into motherly action. "Have a seat, I'll make you a snack. I have the blender out, would you like a protein shake?"

"That'd be great, yeah."

"How's your head?"

"It's still numb from the stuff they injected me with to get the stitches. I have pain meds for later if it hurts." Feeling bad for intruding, he said, "Sorry for eavesdroppin', Tawny, but I didn't want to interrupt and I couldn't walk away mid-story."

"Don't sweat it," she replied after blowing her nose for the third time. "If I'm going to let you shoot me up with sperm in the future, I think it's safe to say I'm comfortable around you."

"I guess so, yeah." Chuckling, Nick took a seat at the counter. "We did a real thorough background check on you, but isn't it a little scary just puttin' your trust in all of us?"

Pushing her long blonde hair behind her ears, Tawny giggled, "Yeah, I kind of panicked a little at first. I thought maybe you guys were devil worshippers bringing me here to be some kind of sacrifice, but then I looked up devil worship on the Internet and read that the sacrificed girls have to be virgins, so I knew I was safe."

After laughing with her, Nick said, "Actually, you do look really young and innocent now."

Jan proudly informed her future son-in-law, "I chiseled off her makeup, took her to be declawed at my nail salon, and then we went shopping for some slightly more modest clothing."

Grinning, Tawny glanced over at Nick. "In other words, she de-slutified me."

The joyous screams of a young girl tearing through the house made everyone in the kitchen jump.

"I won! I won! I won!" Cassie shrieked as she raced into the kitchen waving an envelope and a piece of paper. "I won!" When she saw Nick sitting in front of her, she couldn't believe her luck. "I won!"

"Won what, sweetie?" Nick loved the look of pure joy in the girl's eyes.

"My hero essay! The one I wrote about you!" She grabbed his hand and yanked him off the stool. "I won! I get to read it out loud and then give you a medal in front of the governor! Look!" She handed him the letter. "See!"

Wiping her hands on a dish towel, Jan rushed over to read it for herself. "She really won."

"Cool beans, little sis." Tawny gave a thumbs up. "Way to go."

Nick picked her up in his arms, squeezing her tight. "I'm so honored that you wrote about me, honey."

Grinning wide, Jan asked Nick and Cassie, "Now that you've won the Hero Essay Contest, what are you going to do?"

* * *

"I've never been to Disneyland." Curled up in bed with her husband, Sara was listing the things she never had the time or opportunity to do. "My parents only liked to vacation where there was lots of cheap booze." 

"My father took me to Disneyland twice a year, on my birthday and on father's day." Mindlessly stroking his wife's hair, Gil said, "My mom offered to take me the year after he died, but I said I didn't want to go, and I never went back. Frontierland was my favorite part of the park. I loved westerns and I vividly remember begging my father for a coonskin cap on our last trip there."

"No surprise there." Sara's lips curved into a smile. "You have eclectic taste when it comes to hats. Did he buy it for you?"

"No, because he had already bought me a bow and arrow set. He told me to ask Santa for it. I ended up asking for a microscope instead."

"Sold out your cowboy dreams to be a geek?"

"Yes." Gil snuggled closer. "Nick seems to balance the two pretty well, maybe I should have tried."

"Maybe you should start a list of things you've never done."

"And then we can compare the two and do all things mutual."

"I like that idea," she whispered in the candlelit room.

"Are you okay, Sara?" He had been afraid to ask.

"Not yet." She closed her eyes and burrowed into her loving husband's chest. "But I will be."

"I was afraid you were going to walk away today and not look back."

"I thought about doing that," she confessed, "but then I realized running wouldn't solve anything. The problems I have, the ghosts that haunt me…I realized I can deal with them here, and when I need a break from dealing with them, the best part is, I can curl up in the arms of the only person who has ever truly loved me, and get some rest."

* * *

"You've been sleeping for ten hours," Nick whispered when he finally saw his partner's eyes pop open. 

"Where am I?" Greg rubbed his eyes and glanced around.

"Your parents' bed."

"Right, right."

"I came up here to bring you home, but you weren't budging, so your mom told me to sleep here. She's makin' dinner for us."

After clearing the sleep from his voice with a couple of coughs, Greg reached out and touched his lover's bandaged forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm great." Nick leaned in for a kiss. "Thanks to you. If you didn't take down Markson when you did, who knows how beat up I'd be. Thanks for protectin' me."

"I protected you," Greg half stated, half questioned.

With a steady gaze, Nick assured his often skeptical partner, "Yeah, Slugger, you did."

"I didn't think I had it in me."

Lips grazing, the grateful lover answered, "I knew you did."

"Dinner's ready!" Tawny cheerily announced from the doorway. "Jan sent me to get you guys. Or should I say, chow's on, Tex! Come and git it!"

Greg threw a pillow in her direction. "We were having a moment!" He laughed, "Tex was bringin' the romance! I was totally swooning."

"Save all your swoonin' for Saturday, G." Nick sat up. "I'm starving."

"We need to get one of these sleep number beds, Cletus." Greg didn't budge. "It's so comfortable."

"Ooh! I've always wanted to try one of those." Tawny bounded over and jumped on the king-size bed. "I hear they cost mega bucks."

"That side is a 70," Greg pointed, "this side is 30."

"This is way too hard for me," Tawny remarked after trying the 70 side. "Move over Nick."

"This is…odd." Nick laughed and scooted over to let her by. "I told you we have a no threesomes rule, but as long as no one takes their clothes off, I guess we're okay."

"Too soft." She gravitated back to the middle. "When we go for it in six months or a year, how are we going to do it?"

Greg immediately reminded her, "We haven't agreed to go for it, Tawny."

"I passed all the medical tests with flying colors."

"When did you have medical tests?" Nick queried, feeling like he had stepped into the Twilight Zone.

"Jan took me to the doctor and paid to have everything expedited. Let's hear it for a relatively drug-free lifestyle and protected sex! I was clean as whistle."

Greg rolled his eyes. "I guess she didn't think we needed to be consulted. Unbelievable."

"Okay, okay, let's talk hypothetically," Tawny said, fully believing it would really happen. "How would we do it since sex is off the table?"

"It's easy," the DNA expert replied, "Nick and I make deposits in a jar, then we load a syringe and give it to you to do the honors."

Nick added, "It's real important that she lay with her hips on pillow and stay like that for an hour." When Greg shot him a look, he confessed, "Okay, yeah, I looked it up one day when you were busy workin' on your book. The website I checked said that the woman getting inseminated shouldn't be the one doin' it though. It has to be done at the right angle and extremely slow. The little guys are real fragile."

"I'm sure Jan would volunteer to do the honors," Greg droned.

"That's gross, G. Your mom can't do it." Propping up on his elbow to face Tawny and Greg, Nick confessed, "Honestly, if it wouldn't too weird for you, Tawny, I would kinda like to do it. I just think it be almost like I was…"

"In there?" Greg cracked up. "Haven't you been inside enough girls in your lifetime, Romeo?"

"Shut up." Nick threw a pillow at the jokester. "You know what I meant! It would be like I was there at the moment of conception. Don't you want to be there?"

With a mischievous grin, Greg nodded. "Before I met you, I can safely say I would have wanted to be_ there_ as much and as often as possible."

"You guys are hilarious." Tawny simultaneously patted their thighs. "I just spent the last two years letting total strangers see my body for cash. Trust me, I'm not shy. I can handle both of you being _there. _You can each do half a syringe. And since I have to hang out for an hour, maybe while the little swimmers are battling upstream, we can watch a movie together."

"I can't believe we're having this conversation," Nick tried not to show his discomfort or anticipation.

"What would we watch?" Greg asked, chuckling. "It has to be something good, because if we're going to tell the kid the story one day, we don't want to say we watched Dodgeball or soft core."

"The Wizard of Oz!" Tawny clapped her hands. "It's the ultimate family movie. It was the first movie I watched with my dad."

"Yeah," Greg nodded, "and I heard Dorothy ended up being a surrogate for the Tin Man and The Scarecrow, so it's poignant. They didn't use a syringe though. They got drunk and did it the old fashioned way. The lion videotaped the whole thing and put it up on YouTube."

"Hey!" Nick shot a warning glance. "I watched that movie with my grandpa. Don't you dare dirty it up for me, G."

"Hey, I watched it with my grandpa too." Greg stopped joking and got nostalgic.

Nick told the 20 year old, "Tawny, you're too young to remember this, but before VCRs were in every home, the Wizard of Oz only played on TV once a year."

"Yeah," Greg jubilantly shared, "my Papa Olaf would make a huge bowl of popcorn and we'd have a campout in the family room."

"See, it's perfect. It's a movie that's sentimental for all of us." Tawny slipped one hand in Nick's and the other in Greg's. "We'll hold hands and watch The Wizard of Oz, and by the time the movie's done, there will be a Stokes or Sanders bun cooking in my oven."

The sweetly crazy idea was a little much for a newly outted boy from the ranch. "What do you think about that plan, G?"

"Uh…" Staring at the ceiling and into the future, Greg whimsically asked, "How does 2009 work for everyone?" After saying it out loud, he panicked. "**December **2009." He took a deep breath and really thought about the statement. "You know hamsters are fun too."

* * *

**ANs:**

Thanks for coming back for more!

Sorry for hurting Nicky, but it was only 7 stitches, not the loss of a spleen (inside joke from Laws of Motion). It would have been unrealistic for every character to be happy and supportive, so it was time to show some raging homophobia. It had multiple purposes though - it created a great opportunity for Greg to learn a few things about himself, a chance for Nick to make some decisions that could ultimately make things better on the job, and the cops who witnesses it all were all impacted and have some serious food for thought.

Some readers suspected that Dave Sanders still wasn't happy with the answers he had received and you were right. Hopefully it's clear that he is happier now. If not, it will be abundantly clear how he feels about Nick in the near future.

I missed Hodges and Wendy : ) If you miss Roy, he's in the next 2 chapters.

Some canon references and parallels/opposites from my other series. There will be a lot more in the next chapter too. I wanted to write Sara's walk out the way I would have preferred it to go down. I also wanted to show Jan when she wasn't in one of her crazier modes. Hopefully the scene between Jan and Tawny, then Nick, helped show some other sides to the characters and provide some backstory.

Thanks so much for the warm welcome back after the last chapter. Once I'm done tweaking the Valentine's Day chapter, I'll answer questions and replies. : )

**Maggs **


	28. Chapter 28: Who Loves You?

**The Day Before You  
****By: MsMaggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 28: Who Loves You? **

"What the hell are you singin' in the shower, G?" Standing in the master bathroom, Nick stopped sipping coffee to laugh his ass off at his partner.

"Tonight! Tonight! Won't be just any night…"

"I'll give you props for coming up with the lyrics."

"Dude!" Greg opened the shower door an inch. "I'm not making this up, it's a classic from West Side Story."

"Never seen it."

"Seriously?"

"If I watched musicals growin' up, people woulda called me queer."

"Talk about delaying the inevitable." Tense from the anticipation of his mystery date, Greg snapped the shower door shut. "At least I sing for you. You only sing for Mandy or when you're alone."

"I only sing for Mandy when I need test results ASAP, and I don't sing in front of you because my voice sucks."

"That's not what Mannnndy says. She swoons when you sing to her. Be honest, how many women have you won over with a song, Cletus? Three, four dozen?"

"I'll sing to you on our wedding night, G, that'll be our somethin' new."

"Not a country song."

"Aww, and I was all excited to croon Stars Over Texas for ya. That's what I always imagined usin' for my wedding song." Grinning behind his coffee cup, Nick said, "Why haven't you asked me to join you in the shower?" He chuckled, "Are you doin' somethin' special for our big date?"

"Nope. I already did that at the salon."

After choking on his coffee, the concerned lover asked, "Don't tell me you listened to Roy and got one of those sadistic sac n' crack waxes." When the shower door flew open, he jumped back, spilling his coffee.

"Roy told me you got one for our big date, so I did!" From the look on his partner's face, Greg knew he had been misled. "Do you have **any idea** how much it hurt?!"

"I don't even want to imagine it, no, but I wanna see the results." Dying of curiosity, Nick lurched forward, but his lover retreated and slammed the door before he got there. "I wanna see!"

"No!" While holding the door shut, Greg sang his reply, "Tonight! Tonight! You'll see my bod tonight! Right after I **kill** your cousin Roy!"

"Now I know why you've been holding out on me for days."

"No, I wanted to abstain from everything to make our date night extra hot. I think we should go without anything for two weeks before the honeymoon."

"I'll have to move out if you want me to keep my hands off you for two weeks."

"When you say it like that, one week sounds long enough."

"Seriously, how bad was the waxing?" Nick asked, afraid to even imagine the extent of the torture.

"Pluck one hair from your arm and multiple that pain by – oh – I don't know – **infinity**!"

Grinning, Nick knocked on the shower door. "I'm off to get things ready for the big date. See ya later, balllllldy."

"If you call and I'm not here, I'm dissolving Roy's body in acid in the high desert."

"I think you'll forgive him by the stroke of midnight."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Greg huffed.

"I'll bet my half of the house on it. Oh, and here's a preview of our date and my singing voice." Nick strolled out of the room badly crooning at the top of his lungs, "Thank God I'm a country boy! Yee haw!"

While staring at his hairless junk, Greg muttered, "I can honestly say I'd rather have my nuts waxed than two-step, but that's what I get for fallin' for a redneck."

* * *

"This is what I get for loving a man having a mid-life crisis." Locked in the bathroom staring at an unopened pregnancy test, Sara desperately tried to work up enough courage to tear open the box. 

Two weeks ago, when she was in the hospital staring into her husband's disappointed eyes, she decided to give him something she wasn't sure she wanted. Knowing he would never leave her, and believing he wanted a child, she went against her better judgment and consented to create a baby together. A week later she did a one-eighty, but after feeling some odd sensations this morning, she suspected her change of heart came too late.

Since Grissom was at the Lab with Warrick, working the backlog her abrupt departure had created, she knew she had hours to delay the inevitable. It made no sense to put it off, but she took a seat on the bathroom floor to continue her staring contest with the box.

* * *

"Have you spoken with Sara?" Catherine asked as she walked into The Tangiers with Nick. "She's not returning my calls." 

"Mine either." Nick sighed, "Greg's takin' it the hardest. I was real surprised she wouldn't even talk to him."

"Gil told me she knows we're thinking about her."

Remembering how he didn't want to talk for a while after his trauma, Nick said, "When she's ready to talk to us, she will."

"Oh God, here comes my mother." Catherine pointed down the hall. "What the hell is she wearing?"

* * *

"Your threads for this evening, Mr. Sanders." Edward, a British limo driver and close friend of Lily Flynn, smiled as he stood in the doorway and presented a large white box tied with a gold ribbon. 

"My threads? Cool!" The 60's buff loved hearing 'threads' instead of clothes. "Thanks, Daddy-O."

"Mr. Stokes requested that you read the card before opening the box."

Greg chuckled, "Mr. Stokes knows I'm an impulsive boy."

"I'll return at 11:30 pm to drive you to your destination."

"Ninety minutes?!" Greg couldn't imagine waiting ninety seconds longer. "No way."

Smirking, Edward regally replied, "Haven't you heard…good things come to those who wait."

* * *

After staring at the pregnancy test box for the better part of an hour, Sara grasped it with a shaky hand. _Open it. Come on, open it. _

Too excited to follow instructions, Greg flipped open the giant box. "Ha!" A note taped to the gold tissue paper read 'Didn't your Mama teach you to open the card first?'

Ripping the paper, he laughed an apology, "Sorry, but my fear of cowboy boots is making me..."

The sight of a vintage 60's dark teal sharkskin suit, matching narrow silk tie, and a crisp white shirt took his breath away.

After a second deep breath in, Sara tore open the test box and started wishing for something that she had never in her life wished for…to fail a test.

"I'm such a dope." A smile spread over Greg's face as he ran his fingertips over the shiny lapels of the suit. "I never saw this coming." He realized now that Catherine's supposed 'slip' about line dancing on Friday had been a red herring. _I bet he asked Cath to help him find this, that's why she's in on it. But where are we going? _His excitement mounting, he lunged for the card.

_Hey genius – _

_Did you really think I'd take you country dancing when I want to prove how much I love you? Duh. _

_I know you think I tune you out on occasion and you'd be right – like when I'm lounging on the couch watching Sports Center and you're bouncing off the walls around me. But it has nothing to do with me not loving you. Time and place, dude. Time and place. I switched teams, I didn't give up sports. _

_I know you believe I've denied you things you really want and you'd be right about that too. Sometimes it's because I feel silly doing it, or because I'm nervous. I've come a long way in a very short time, but you gotta remember, I'm still wading through uncharted waters every day. We also both know that sometimes I deny you, because you need to be told no. _

_I know I've hurt you more than once, but it's never been intentional. I'm sorry just the same. Tonight's all about me proving that no matter what I've done or how I've hurt you, I love you with all my heart. I'm gonna show you that I've been listening to you and loving you every step of the way. I'm jumping out of my comfort zone for you – way out. I'm going to give you the things you've asked for and surprise you with things you've only fantasized about. And no, I have NEVER done even 10 percent as much for a girl. And I think we both know I'm not doing any of this to get laid, because you're a sure thing, my little perv._

_You may swoon tonight, you may laugh your ass off at me – I'm hoping for both actually. So put on that suit and be ready at 11:30pm for the date of your life. I'm taking you somewhere that you've been a thousand times – in your mind. 'Oh What a Night' I have planned. The whole time I'll be thinking 'I Can't Take My Eyes off You'. _

'_Who Loves You'? _

"You do," Greg whispered as he carefully returned the card to its envelope. _But Jersey Boys isn't coming back here until August_. With three Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons songs mentioned at the end of the letter, he guessed they would be seeing a Vegas impersonation act. He knew there were several casino lounges with impersonators of the group who attracted old timers to the dance floor.

Grabbing the suit box, Greg darted for the stairs singing one of his favorite Four Seasons songs at the top of his lungs, "Who loves you, pretty baby?!"

* * *

"I think I'm in love," Catherine sighed as she stood in the middle of her favorite VIP suite at the Tangiers fixing her friend's bow tie. "You really wear a vintage tux well, Nicky. Are you sure you're gay? Have you had any doubts since…" 

"Yeah, I've had doubts. The first few days after talking to Greg about it, I was real skeptical. I thought maybe it was just the need for companionship with someone who really understood me."

While straightening his jacket lapels, she asked, "What changed your mind?"

"Sorry," he winked, "I don't have the hottest sex of my life and tell."

"Ah." Laughing, she reached for the champagne bottle they were splitting while Roy and Lily took care of last minute details. "What's the appeal? Less talking?"

"Less talking? Hell, not with Greg in bed." Nick raised his glass of bubbly. "I can't thank you enough for helpin' me pull this off."

"Hey, I did the least. My mother and your cousin are the real heroes." Catherine snickered into her glass. "In the last week, my mother officially became the oldest Fag Hag on the planet. This morning she actually said she'll miss hanging around 'her gays' next week. She's the geriatric version of Kathy Griffin."

"If your mother wasn't independently wealthy, I'd say she and Roy should open a business together, because what they managed to pull together in a week is blowin' my mind." Noticing the time, he tapped his watch. "You better head downstairs and tell your mom it's time."

* * *

"Three minutes," Sara breathed out after setting the test stick on the bathroom counter. _Three minutes._ She knew it would be the longest three minutes of her life.

* * *

Time was standing still for Greg as he wandered the house. "Come on Edward, get your polite British ass back here!" 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doorbell rang. "Yes!" He plunked his glass on the kitchen counter and ran for door, sliding the last ten feet to the knob. "It's about time, you…Lily?" The sight of his friend dressed to the nines in outrageous 60's wear threw him for a loop.

"Were you expecting someone else?" she teased, slipping her arm around the young man's. "Come with me, honey."

"Uh…okay." Greg shut the door behind him and let Lily escort him to a vintage car. "Where is the car taking us?" He smiled at Edward who was holding open the back door.

"That isn't a car, sweetie." Lily gave a hint, "It's a time machine."

Nick's written words echoed in Greg's mind 'I'm taking you somewhere you've been a thousand times.' "The 1960s," he guessed out loud. "Is that where we're going?"

"We're already there." Once they were inside the car, Lily picked up two martini glasses. "Here are you are, Mr. Sanders." Playing her part she presented a drink to her excited and confused guest. "It's not every day that a VIP at The Rampart invites a new arrival to one of his private parties, but when you were in The Coconut Lounge last night, you must have done something to catch Mr. Stokes's eye. When Sam asked if there was anything he could do to make his stay at The Rampart more enjoyable, Nick replied – see the guy in the cheap suit ordering a drink in the lounge? I think _he_ would make my stay _significantly _more enjoyable'."

Recalling the pictures of The Coconut Lounge when it opened in 1965, Greg slipped right into the fantasy. "But all I did was order a dirty martini and drink it leaning against a palm tree."

She gave a naughty smirk. "Well…maybe it was the way you handled the stem of the glass or how smoothly you swallowed its contents."

_Like mother like daughter._ "You are a naughty little minx, Ms. Flynn."

"You don't know the half of it." She sipped her cocktail with flair.

Keeping things real for 1965, Greg said, "I didn't think Sam Braun and his cronies would be interested in indulging such an unconventional request. Guys like me, and apparently Mr. Stokes, usually aren't welcome by tough guys."

"Money is all that matters in this town, Mr. Sanders. When a high roller wants to be indulged, Sam doesn't care what the man's vice is, he indulges him to the fullest extent with the utmost discretion."

"I see." _This is so much better than line dancing!_ He was almost too excited to stay in character. "I wonder where the night will lead."

"When you're invited to The Rampart as a special guest, there's only one kind of night to be had, Mr. Sanders." Wearing her classic showgirl smile, Lily raised her glass, "A very memorable one."

"Okay then." Skyrocketing to Cloud 9, Greg tapped his glass to Lily's. "To a very memorable night."

* * *

"You realize your weddin' night's gonna be a let down after this." Standing in the lush marble bathroom of the VIP suite, Roy handed his cousin a jar of pomade. 

"No shit." Nick snatched the jar with a shaky hand. "You and Lily took my idea and kicked it up ten notches. I'm freakin' out here!"

"Breathe, Cousin, breathe."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one puttin' himself in the spotlight."

"Clearly we didn't do enough shots yet." Roy handed over a full shot glass. "The goal is to be sober enough to do what you gotta do, but drunk enough to have the guts to do it."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Spoken like the wise twenty year old that you are."

"I'm 22 according to my ID."

"Shut up about your fake ID, when I'm LVPD."

Roy scoffed at his preachy cousin. "Like you didn't have a fake ID when you were 17 and makin' monthly visits to see your sister and her friends at college."

"No comment." After downing the shot in a gulp, Nick slammed the glass on the marble counter. "Greg would have been thrilled with much less than this."

"Yeah, but we're Texans, we do everything big. Cowboy up, Stokes!" Roy squeezed his cousin's shoulders to relieve tension. "And let's be serious, this mega date can't be more stressful than playin' in a bowl game."

"I'd be way more comfortable on the field, man. A year ago I couldn't even step foot in a gay club or stand next to a drag queen without freakin' out. This is a huge deal for me."

"Cuz…" Roy shook his head, "all this bitchin' is killin' that hero vibe from earlier in the week."

"Sorry." Nick quit yammering and refilled his shot glass.

"Hey, would you be crushed if I got my degree in Hotel and Hospitality Management instead of Chemistry?" Buzzing with excitement, Roy explained, "I've honestly never enjoyed anything as much as pulling this night together and working in this hotel all week."

"If working in the Lab isn't your thing, I'd rather have you find out now than after you graduate college with a Chemistry degree. Not everybody can handle the monotony of Lab work, and after livin' with you for a little while, I've had my suspicions that it wasn't a good choice for you." Nick twisted open the jar of pomade. "I'll support whatever you want to do as long as long as it's legal, you do it well, and it pays your bills."

"Cool! I'm going to switch my major on Monday." Roy cautioned, "Easy on the gel, Cuz. You're not a greaser, you're a high rollin' VIP."

* * *

"The secret kitchen entrance? No way!" Greg exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a giddy little boy. "With bodyguards?! I feel like Jimmy 'Big Mouth' Malone!" 

_You're as loud as him too._ Lily patted Greg's arm and whispered, "Try to play it cool, honey. You're supposed to be a decked out hep cat, not a spaz."

"Right, right." He sucked in some air. "Are we taking the private elevator to a tricked out VIP suite?" Walking with his entourage he hurried by the curious kitchen staff, feeling like a celebrity. "This is how they used to sneak The Rat Pack into The Sands."

Lily snickered, "It's also how they used to sneak the girls out when someone's wife showed up unexpectedly."

"Right this way, Mr. Sanders." Hugo, the largest of the burly bodyguards opened a secret door and radioed, "The Special Delivery is in the corridor."

Lily opened her gold bag and popped open a tin of breath mints. "Here you go, honey."

"Thanks." He took two and crunched to burn some nervous energy. "Where does this hall lead to?"

"The private party room."

Remembering a phrase that Lily had shared with him during one of their meetings, Greg snickered, "The private party room…where the girls were wild and the men were wilder."

"That's right." When they stopped in front of the gilded double doors, Lily planted a kiss on her youngest friend's cheek. "You're on your own now, kid, this is the end of the line for me." She winked, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

From the risqué stories his book consultant had shared during their dinner meetings, Greg knew his options were wide open. "I promise."

Thinking of Sam, Lily cracked a bittersweet smile, "Take my word for it when I say…any guy who puts forth this much effort to show someone a good time is a keeper." She waved as she walked backwards. "1965 was one hell of a year." It was the code for the bodyguards to open the double doors.

"I bet it…" Greg whirled around and saw a Tangiers party room had been turned into The Rampart Secret Room down to the last detail including white and gold linen tables, a bar, palm trees, a stage, a band, and a roomful of…." He looked closer. Gay boys and drag queens perfectly outfitted in vintage wear. "I don't believe this."

The Tangiers' Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons impersonators started with 'Who Loves You' just as they had been directed.

"I thought he was taking me to an old fart's lounge to hear 60's music," Greg excitedly told Hugo, "holy shit!" He gripped his hair in disbelief. "This is all for **me**?!"

"It sure as hell isn't for me," Hugo replied, before remembering he was getting paid extra not to crack gay jokes. "How about you go inside so we can shut the doors and stand guard like we're supposed to?"

Mesmerized by the music and staggering disbelief that Nick had put this together and pulled it off, Greg entered the room in a zombie state. "I even smell coconut in the air." Overwhelmed, he took in the sights and sounds of the 60's, and let his senses transport him back in time. "It's like I'm really there."

Roy gave the signal for the dancers to part like the Red Sea and slowly make way for the guest of honor.

"This is like being in a movie!" Greg couldn't believe there was staging on top of décor. _Where did he find all the queers? _When he saw Roy grinning on the edge of the dance floor, he figured out that the guy who had tapped into the entire Vegas gay scene within 48 hours of arriving in town had probably been assigned the task of rounding up hot gay boys and drag queens. _Nick's right, I totally forgive you about the waxing, Roy. _

"Excuse me, Mr. Sanders." Tom, a 36 year old waiter/unemployed actor playing the part of the party manager, motioned for the guest of honor to follow him. "Mr. Stokes has invited you to share his table tonight."

"Where is Mr. Stokes?" Greg queried, dying to see his soul mate.

"He's attending to some important business and is expected to arrive shortly." Tom pulled out the man's chair. "What would you like from the bar while you wait?"

Taking a seat and reveling in the fantasy, Greg beamed a smile at the man. "A dirty martini would be great, thanks."

Once he saw the guest of honor was seated, Faux Frankie Valli began singing directly to him as rehearsed. "Who loves ya, pretty baby? Who's gonna help you through the night? Who loves you, Mr. Sanders? Who's always there to make things right?"

Greg forced himself to play it cool. _Holy shit!_ _This is awesome! _It was so phenomenal, that the history buff didn't even care that The Four Seasons were singing a song in 1965 that they didn't record until 1975.

"Who's gonna love you, love you? Who's gonna love you…"

When Greg saw the four singers slide to the side and heard the band transition into the instrumental lead-in for 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You', his hand flew to his mouth. _No, he is not going to…oh my god he is! _

After slipping through a side door, Nick climbed the three steps onto the stage. _I can't believe I'm gonna do this. _With a stomach full of butterflies, he grabbed the microphone and leapt fifty miles outside of his comfort zone. "You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you."

"Yessssssss!" Greg cheered, thrilled to finally be on the receiving end of a real song.

Hearing his partner's excitement, Nick worked up the nerve to actually make the eye contact he was singing about. "You'd be like heaven to touch." Seeing Greg's happiness was all it took to loosen up. "I wanna hold you so much. At long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive. You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you."

"I have my own personal rock star," Greg announced as he accepted the martini glass the bartender was offering him. "Thanks, Jeeves." Like a player, he tucked a twenty in the man's pocket. "In 1965 that was a great tip."

Roy motioned for Nick to start walking down the stairs like they had rehearsed.

Pulling the microphone off its stand, Nick continued with renewed strength, "Pardon the way that I stare. There's nothing else to compare." He started down the stairs. "The sight of you leaves me weak. There are no words left to speak."

"Sing it, baby!" Greg, along with the crowd of strangers, cheered on his man and the band. "I'm swooning! I'm definitely swooning!"

Watching a smile explode on Greg's face, Nick's courage doubled and he belted out the chorus, "I love you, baby! And if it's quite alright, I need you baby…to warm the lonely night, I love you baby." He stood directly in front of his partner and went for it. "Oh pretty baby! Don't bring me down I pray, oh pretty baby, now that I found you…stay…stay and let me love you, baby, let me love you…" As rehearsed, he handed off the microphone to Roy who whizzed by right on cue. "Feel like dancin'?" He reached for Greg's hand. "It's a rhetorical question."

Greg leapt from his chair as the Faux Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons took over the song. "I'd love to dance with you." Still shaking from the shock of it all, he cupped Nick's face. "I'll do anything with you, for you, to you. I can't believe you did all this for me."

"I can't take all the credit," Nick admitted, whisking his partner to the center of the dance floor so they could hide among the other couples. "I came up with the theme and the songs, but then Roy, Lily and Catherine went nuts and somehow 50 people ended up on the date with us." Leading a gentle sway, he realized it was their first dance. "I love ya, G." He choked up when he saw tears in Greg's eyes. "I wanted to do something to show you how much."

"Mission accomplished." Greg spoke directly into his lover's ear, "This is without a doubt, the most spectacular thing anyone has ever done for me."

"That means you've been underappreciated for far too long." Grabbing his partner by the tie, Nick returned to his character - a lovestruck tough guy. "Now shut up and kiss me like nobody's watchin'."

* * *

"They're gonna smooch!" Catherine yelled to her mother, who was fixing herself a cocktail at Sam's old office bar. "I told Nicky the security desk didn't monitor the private party room." 

"They don't," Lilly confirmed.

"Yeah, but I neglected to tell him that it could be monitored from Sam's old office." Enjoying the show, Catherine reclined in her father's old chair. "I figure there's no way he can get pissed at me after we gave him a tricked out party room and a VIP suite."

"You are your father's daughter." Grinning, Lily handed over a flute of champagne. "Let's toast the old man, shall we?"

Catherine alternately lifted and lowered her glass, "Wherever you are, Dad. I know you're having a blast."

* * *

When Nick left to use the restroom, Greg egged on the trio of drag queens belting out their take on Frankie Valli's 'Big Girls Don't Cry'. "Sing it ladies!" 

"Are you having a good time, Sir?" the head waiter asked, while refilling the guest of honor's champagne flute.

Greg raised his glass. "Time of my life, Jeeves."

* * *

"Great party, Mr. Stokes." Jesse, one of the dancers, held open the men's room door for his host. 

"Thanks." Nick returned the young man's smile before continuing inside. _Holy__shit. _There were two couples getting friendly in every corner and both stalls were occupied by at least two people. _I think he was talkin' about the party in here, not the one out there_. Needing to pee like a racehorse, he blocked everything and headed for urinals.

"Hey," Carlos, a 21 year old perfectly sculpted showboy, smiled at the big spender who was bankrolling the event. "I'll party with you anytime."

Just as Nick was about to relieve himself, he realized he had never peed in a room full of gay guys. _Oh shit, he's not zippin' up_. A nasty case of stage fright reared its ugly head. _I hope he doesn't think I'm not peeing because I'm interested_ _in something else_. As the guy inched closer, Nick blurted, "Sorry for any confusion, but…no thanks, man."

"Nick?" Roy called out when he hear his cousin's panicky voice.

"Roy?" Nick glanced around, but didn't see his cousin until one of the stalls quickly opened and shut. "What the…"

"Hold that thought." Roy escorted his cousin into the hall. "Why aren't you using the VIP bathroom?"

"There was a bunch of drag queens in it." Nick whispered, "They make me nervous." He pointed to the men's room. "So did that. And what the hell were you doin' in a stall with two other guys?"

"Playing monopoly," the party boy rolled his eyes. "Come on. I know you love Greg, but you're not blind. I filled this place with every showboy wannabe, studly unemployed actor, desperate model and all-around hottie that I could find. They're all working the party for a free meal, two drinks, and a Tangiers gig on their resumes. I'm their boss for the night, but I'm working for free." He chuckled, "Lucky for me, certain perks go along with being the guy in charge."

* * *

"I'm done, boss," Warrick announced, standing in his boss's door. 

"Already?"

"It's almost two am."

Worried about the backlog, Grissom pushed, "Are you maxed out on OT?"

"No, I got someplace to be."

"Two hours ago you said you had nothing to do and wanted to work a full shift."

His frustration building, Warrick snipped, "I know what I said, but…look, I was planning on staying, but I realized I have something else I need to do."

* * *

"Sorry," Nick apologized as he returned to the VIP table. Placing his hands on Greg's shoulders, he spoke over the band. "The bathrooms were packed, so I had to take a hike to take a leak." 

Realizing there were only fifteen minutes left to the party, Greg jumped to his feet and grabbed Nick's hand. "Hey, Frankie!" He shouted to the lead singer, "I don't care if it's from 1978, I want to hear Oh What a Night!"

"You got it, Mr. Sanders." Faux Frankie huddled with his band to get set.

"I didn't think to look up the years of the songs." The perfectionist couldn't believe he hadn't thought of being historically accurate with the music. "I messed up, didn't I?"

"Are you kidding?" Greg laughed at the statement. "Tonight couldn't be any more perfect. Who gives a shit about musical timelines, you threw me a theme party! That's like a hundred notches above making me a mix tape."

"I made mix tapes for girls," Nick laughed.

"Come on, I want one fast and one slow dance before the party's over."

* * *

"Ten more minutes, boys." Alone in her father's old office, Catherine emptied the last of the champagne into her flute and returned to the black leather couch. "Even my own mother ditches me on Saturday night. It doesn't get more pathetic than that." 

Since Lindsay was sleeping over at a friend's house, she planned on crashing at the hotel. _Maybe there's a billionaire hunk playing craps downstairs who is dying to find a forty-something red head instead of a twenty-something blonde bimbo. Yeah, and tomorrow the crime rate will drop to zero and Ecklie will grow hair. _Watching her friends having the time of their life, she groaned into her bubbly, "God, my life sucks."

Just as her self-loathing was reaching its peak, a rude knock on the door interrupted. "I don't need anything, thanks!"

"I need something," a deep voice replied through the crack in the door.

Catherine rose to her feet muttering, "Now I know I've had too much to drink." But when she opened the door, it really was Warrick standing there. "You…" Her anger surged. "You **need** something? Whatever it is, it can wait until you see me at work on Monday. How did you know I was here anyway?"

"I'd tell ya, but I wouldn't want you to be pissed at Nick." He pointed into the room. "Can I…"

"No." Catherine postured, "Whatever it is you can say it from where you're standing."

With every inch of him screaming to retreat, he forced his feet to stay planted and said, "I need to tell you I'm sorry, that I made a mistake." He cleared his throat and lifted his eyes. "I need you."

* * *

"Need some help?" Hodges casually asked the woman of his dreams when he saw her toiling in the layout room. "Looks like you have six more bags to…" 

"I'm fine."

"No, you're worried." He pointed at her face. "I'm an observant guy, Simms. You wrinkle your nose when you're stumped."

"Ugh." Snapping off her latex gloves, Wendy barked, "I don't need you making fun of me while I'm trying to pass my first CSI proficiency! I'm working through my weekend off to get this done, it's **that** important to me."

"I'm…"

"Admit it, you want me to fail."

"I want you to fail," he responded without missing a beat.

"Bastard!" She threw her gloves in the direction of the trash and marched for the door. "I can't believe you want me to fail!" Halfway out the door, she screamed, "What have I **ever **done to you to make you want me to fail?" Releasing the door, she marched for the break room and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Hey," Bobby D hurried to catch up to his co-worker. "I heard you yellin'. What's wrong?"

"Hodges!" Happy to see a friendly face, she vented, "He admitted he wants me to fail my CSI proficiency. He said it to my face." Huffing over to the coffee pot, she grumbled, "His arrogance has no bounds."

"You really think it's arrogance that made him say that?" Smiling, Bobby reached for the pot and poured a cup for his shaken co-worker.

"Why do you think she said it?" She took the cup in her hand. "Overall evilness? Sociopathic tendencies?"

"No, ma'am." Chuckling, he filled a cup for himself. "I'm not a CSI, but I've been here long enough to pick up on how they think."

"Hodges isn't a CSI."

"Let me finish now." He slipped closer. "When you become a CSI, you can't jump to obvious conclusions like you did just now. You need to step back, consider all the evidence, and analyze what it all means. You need to see the forest, not the trees, Simms. Do that and you'll be a great CSI."

"I've been working fourteen hours, Yoda, I don't know what you're trying to say, but…"

"Here's what we know. Hodges doesn't want you to pass your proficiencies. If you pass your proficiencies you'll become a CSI and work in the field. Field work can be very dangerous, look at what's happened to Greg, Nick, and Sara. Hell, Nick almost died six days ago. Now re-ask yourself the question – why does Hodges **really** want you to fail?" Bobby lifted his mug. "Seein' the forest yet, Simms? He doesn't want you to be in danger, because he's crazy about you."

"How…"

"The way he looks at you when you don't know he's lookin'."

* * *

"My eyes adored you," Nick sang into his lover's ear as they danced to the last song of the night. "Though I never laid a hand on you, my eyes adored you." 

His eyes closed, Greg swayed in his partner's arms, fulfilling the prom moment he always wanted but never had.

"Like a million miles away from me you couldn't see how I adored you. So close, so close and yet so far."

"Story of our first seven years." Opening his eyes, Greg gushed a grateful smile. "But you were so worth the wait."

"The feeling's mutual."

Taking in the atmosphere one last time, Greg sighed, "It's gonna be hard going back to reality in a few minutes when this is over."

"Who said it was over?" With the confidence of a high roller, Nick plucked a VIP access card from his tux and tucked it into Greg's jacket pocket. "Suite 4. Be there in exactly ten minutes."

"And if I'm not?" Greg replied, suavely returning to his role.

"You will be."

Watching Nick confidently stroll off the dance floor and out of the room, it took all of Greg's willpower not to chase him down.

* * *

Rushing down the hall after his ex-lover, Warrick pleaded, "Five minutes. Just hear me out!" 

"No! I'm tired, I'm drunk, and I'm still highly pissed off!" She pushed every elevator button and willed them to open pronto. "Leave me alone."

"Please."

"I'm Sam Braun's daughter under this roof," Catherine snarled, "one call to security and you're out of here!"

"Make the call." He stood his ground. "I'll say what I have to say while they're draggin' me out back door to kick my ass."

"Give it up!" Her blood boiling, she stomped into the first elevator that opened.

* * *

Stepping out of the VIP elevator, Greg tried to stop grinning like a giddy school boy and get in character. _Number 4, there it is. Be cool._ He took deep breaths while slowly inserting the key card and opening the door. _Don't geek out. _"Whoa! This place is **awesome**!" _Shit! I geeked out._

Holding up a premium bottle of Scotch, Nick struggled not to laugh. "How do you like it, Sanders?"

Mesmerized by the sight of his partner with his tux jacket off, three shirt buttons open, and his bow tie undone, Greg didn't answer.

"I said, how do you…"

"Two fingers straight up."

Nick turned to pour two fingers worth of scotch into a snifter and used the opportunity to chuckle quietly. "Here you go." Eyeing his lover like prey, he presented the drink.

"Thanks." Greg raised the glass. "For the whisky and the invitation." He nonchalantly tossed the card key on the coffee table while bringing the glass to his lips for a sip. "Do you mind if I take my jacket off?"

"I'd mind if you didn't." Stepping behind his guest, the well-mannered host helped free him from his jacket and then tossed it aside. "You like the suit?"

"Love it." His body tingling from the sensations of hot breath and strong hands on his body, Greg couldn't contain the moan fighting to get out.

"I'm barely touching you."

"That's the problem."

"Luckily, it's a very fixable problem." Curling his fingers around the skinny teal tie, Nick led his revved guest to the couch. "Have a seat." After reclaiming the Scotch glass he had presented earlier, he gently pushed his playmate onto the leather. "Make yourself at home."

While kicking off his shoes, Greg loosened his tie and popped his top button.

"Why stop there?" He polished off the scotch and set the empty glass on the coffee table.

His eyes locked on the sexy man looming over him, Greg teasingly worked open his shirt and tie. "See something you like?" When he got a grin and a nod in return, he slid his fingers to his belt. _I know, I know, you want to see the salon results_. After lowering his zipper, he stopped. "Sorry, that's as far as I go on my own." Sitting in the corner of the couch with one foot on the floor, he encouraged him with his eyes. In a matter of seconds he was sliding onto his back and watching his pants and briefs sail through the air.

Eyes locked on the salon handiwork, Nick was momentarily caught off guard by his partner's lusty kiss.

"If I only wanted a drink, I would have stayed downstairs at the bar."

"Be careful what you wish for." Taking over the lead, Nick pinned down the heated body beneath him and showered it with slow, wet kisses until he arrived at his ultimate destination.

Already heated to an extreme, Greg pawed at his lover's hair. _If I had known you'd pay this much extra attention to the boys, I would have gone to the salon months ago! _The sound of a lid popping snapped him back to the moment. "So prepared, I bet you were a really good boy scout."

"Yeah."

Squirming from his lover's teasing touches, Greg choked out, "Me too."

"You're pretty jumpy for an experienced guy."

"The stuff was cold."

"Right."

After two hours of mental foreplay and ten minutes of physical prodding, Greg struggled to maintain control of his body.

While hastily paving the way to the next level, Nick turned up the heat with ever kiss. "Scout, I think you're ready to earn the 'I made it in a Vegas VIP suite' badge."

The banter as rousing as his lover's handiwork, Greg panted, "How do you know I don't already have that one?" Watching Nick undo his tux pants with one hand made him quiver with anticipation.

"I know because you were a spaz walkin' in here and when I touched you, your whole body was shaking."

"It was cold in the elevator."

"Well, you're hot as hell now," with a devious glint in his eye, Nick asked, "so why are you still shakin', tough guy?" He timed things so he'd get a few minutes of noise instead of words.

With two perfect fantasies merging in Greg's mind, it was almost too much to bear.

Gripping his lover's shoulders, Nick gruffly asked, "What was a nice boy like you doin' in The Coconut Lounge on a Friday night anyway?"

Greg panted, "I'm on Spring Break from Yale…the lounge was on the tour map."

"And right now you're learnin' why your scout leader always said 'never leave the marked trail'." Watching and listening to his partner's pleasure threw Nick into overdrive. "I just earned a badge too," he rasped, "the 'I got me some Ivy League ass' badge."

Making the time out sign, Greg burst into a smile, "I have to tell you this, because it's too good for you not to know. Every time you were in the locker room wearing your court suit, I'd have the hottest fantasy about you having your way with me with your white dress shirt unbuttoned and your pants just below your hips, so you're scoring double fantasy points here."

"Is **that **why you always lost your train of thought as I pulled off my tie in the locker room?"

Greg gave a guilty nod. "And forget about it if it was a tough day in court and you were agitated, ripping off your clothes while you bitched to release tension."

"Too bad I didn't think of a better way to work out my tension back then." Teasing his lover's eager body, Nick playfully asked, "So…are we goin' back to 1965 or did I just return from testifying from a really rough trial?"

Gripping both sides of Nick's white shirt, Greg yanked him close. "How about we just stop talking and do it until we're spent?"

"Yes!" Resuming with renewed vigor, Nick rejoiced, "Hearin' you say that has been one of **my **biggest unfulfilled fantasies."

"Are you plotting a body farm?" Sara queried as she approached her husband in their small backyard. "Plotting a body farm by moonlight is extra creepy."

* * *

"I already have a body farm," he replied with great pride. "I wasn't sure if you were sleeping and I was restless, so I decided to get some fresh air before going inside." He shrugged. "We need to do something with the yard. I'm tired of looking at dirt." 

"Well, before you get too many radical ideas, I need to tell you something." It was comforting to see the 'ol Grissom blank stare. She could almost hear him thinking 'oh shit, what have I done now'. "You're not in trouble." Her body tensed. "I am."

"What did you do?" he asked thinking inside the box. "You've barely left the house this week."

"It happened over a week ago, but I didn't realize how much trouble I was in until today."

Taking her hand, Gil soothed, "Whatever it is, we can handle it, Sara."

"I'm glad you think so." Ending the suspense, she revealed a pregnancy test stick. "Plus means pregnant. Does that look like a plus sign to you?"

The genius had to stop and think what a plus sign looked like. "Uh…" He popped on his glasses just to be sure. "Yes, yes that's definitely a plus sign."

"Then there's definitely a little geek on the way."

"I…um…" Gil squeezed her hand as he tensed. "You said you changed your mind. On the day you quit, you said we'd be crazy to bring a child into this world and you asked me to go through with the vasectomy."

"Yeah, so I guess that God you believe in really does have a wicked sense of humor." She bit back her tears.

"What are we going to do?" he anxiously asked, fearing the worst.

After a lengthy stare into her husband's eyes, Sara made her decision. "We'll plant grass. I hear kids like to run on it."

The man who believed he'd never even have a girlfriend had somehow ended up with a wife and a baby on the way. "You're sure you can..."

"I'm sure." She forced a smile. "I just don't know how we're going to raise a baby since we have about an hour of experience between us."

"Research, my dear." He stroked her hair as tears welled in his eyes. "That's how we scientists figure everything out."

* * *

"Cletus, all that movie watching you did on the sly really paid off." Leaning in the doorway of the opulent VIP suite bathroom, Greg re-cinched his bath towel while cracking a grin. "I'm still buzzin' from the lovin'." 

"See, there are perks to havin' a hyper-perfectionist partner." Nick patted the bed. "You thought your parents' bed was plush, wait 'til you try this mattress."

"I'm starving," Greg announced as he bopped over.

"I ordered a bunch of stuff from Room Service, so you should be able to find happiness shortly."

Snuggling close, Greg cooed, "I found happiness hours ago." He grazed his lips over Nick's. "Months ago." After a smoldering kiss, he whispered, "Thank you for everything you did to make tonight special, fun, romantic, and hot as hell. In one evening, you managed to purge the last doubts, worries, or insecurities I had about myself, you, and us. I don't care how many people helped you pull this off, it was all about you putting yourself a million miles out of your comfort zone just to make me feel loved. I've honestly never been happier in my entire life."

Thrilled that he had accomplished everything he had set out to do and more, Nick caressed his partner's cheek. "Roy was laughin' at me earlier, sayin' that by doin' all this, our wedding night would be a let down, but I kinda see our ceremony and reception as bein' a family affair with your mother orchestratin' every detail and me sweatin' bullets over my family bein' there. Don't get me wrong, I think it's gonna be great, but it's not gonna be like tonight. It's not gonna be just about us, so as nervous as I was about tonight, I'm really glad I did this so we could have a special time all to ourselves."

"Me too." Greg smiled, "All that and you fulfilled like six major fantasies of mine in a span of hours."

"I'm just glad I lived to fulfill 'em." Swamped by the memory of almost dying earlier in the week, Nick tensed. "Thinkin' about havin' that gun on me and almost not bein' here makes me think of….you know where my mind goes."

_Six feet under in a box full of bugs._ "Don't go there." _The happier the moment, the bigger the crash._ _I should have seen this coming. _

"I almost missed so much."

"But you didn't."

"I was sleepwalking through life for years, G. There's still so much more I need to do."

"And you will." Greg kept forcing an optimistic tone. "Clearly we've both had our fair share of near-misses, so we're prime for years of safe living."

"You'd think so, but shit keeps happening. I'm startin' to feel like I cheated death and it keeps comin' for me."

"This is why I told you not to watch Final Destination when you found it surfing through channels the other night."

"Sorry. I'm sorry." Frustrated that he was ruining the fun, Nick took a deep breath and tried to snap out of his funk.

"Okay, Cletus, here's the deal." Grinning wide, Greg said, "Name one thing you absolutely want to live to do and we'll do it. I don't care what it is, I'll make it happen somehow. That African safari you want might be difficult to accomplish during our 48 hours off, but with a little imagination, I can make it work at Wild Animal Park in San Diego by tomorrow morning."

"I don't need to go anywhere to fulfill my biggest fantasies," Nick confessed with tears in his eyes. "My top two are marriage and family and no matter how much you love me or want to, we can't pull off either tonight."

"Sure we can." Greg lunged for his cell phone from the nightstand. "I'm sure Jan has a Cambodian orphan waiting in the wings, so I can do the family one no problem." When he saw Nick's dumbfounded expression, he chuckled sweetly. "That was a joke, Cletus, it's the other fantasy I'm going to fulfill." He tossed his cell phone on the bed and took his partner's right hand, sliding off his ring. "I can't imagine feeling more committed to you than I do right now, so let's make it official."

"What?"

"Thanks to my father's lawyers, we have our legal domestic partnership in California, right? Unless laws change, we're not going to get more official than that."

"Yeah, but…"

Greg held up his cell again. "I could call any one of the half dozen chapels in this city who do commitment ceremonies, but do we really need a drunk Elvis impersonating pseudo minister telling us what we already know and feel?" In his best Elvis voice, he answered his own question, "No, thank you. No thank you very much."

Appreciating the sentiment, Nick lovingly replied, "I love what you're trying to do, but we can't have a wedding without other people."

"Very true," the genius nodded, "but you didn't say wedding, you said **marriage**. Remember when we worked that case at Cupid's Kiss?"

"You mean the time my truck got nabbed, I unknowingly gave a murderess my coat, didn't sleep for 27 hours, found out my truck got trashed, and then got blasted by IAB and the Sheriff?"

Greg chuckled at the eye roll he was getting. "Oddly enough that's not the stuff I was going to talk about."

"Thanks."

"In the glorious moments **before **we realized your truck was gone, we were at the diner talking about the case. Sara was mocking weddings and you said, and I quote, 'a wedding is a public declaration of love between two people'. A wedding is what we're having in July."

"Okay, yeah, but I don't see what…"

"Your fantasy was about **marriage**, not a wedding. Do you remember your definition of marriage, Cletus? I do! It's a union between two people who love each other and agree to spend the rest of their lives together."

"What's your point, genius?"

"The divorce rate is sky high in this town because a lot of couples have weddings **without** marriage. The two concepts have grown more and more mutually exclusive and for the most part, not in a good way. That's what Sara was trying to tell you when we were working Cupid's Kiss. She's anti-**meaningless **wedding, but she's pro-marriage. Coincidentally, she's also married, but never had a wedding."

"She told me she went to a chapel."

"Only because they needed to make it legal. We however, aren't constitutionally burdened with that kind of pressure in the morally conservative state of Nevada, home of Sin City and legalized prostitution, so we don't have to go anywhere." Holding Nick's ring between his thumb and index finger, Greg's voice softened, "Let's have a marriage tonight and a wedding in July."

"Your mom will flip out if we do this."

"Don't worry, Jan has plenty of Valium."

"G…"

"You know what one of my biggest unfulfilled fantasies is?" Greg wished he was joking, "To have one of the biggest moments of my life **not** involve my mother. Seriously, she's been involved in every one of them. Even when you took my ass cherry, we were on **her** boat using supplies **she** bought, and we did it on a bed that she's slept in!" Half laughing, half crying, he pleaded, "Do it, Cletus. Agree to marry me right here, right now, in this non-Jan-tainted environment."

"I'm in love with a lunatic," Nick declared as he slipped the ring off his partner's right index finger.

"But will you love this lunatic forever?" Greg whispered, lining up the ring. "Will you be able to put up with him for the rest of your life?"

Eyes locked on each other, Nick confidently answered, "Yes, without a doubt, yes." The feel of a wedding band sliding down his left ring finger brought tears to Nick's eyes for a second time that night. "Will you spend the rest of your life with me, lovin' me deeply and drivin' me crazy?"

"Most definitely yes." Beaming with excitement, Greg watched his ring slip into place. "You may now kiss your best friend, life partner, husband, and soulmate."

They gravitated closer until their lips met in a tender kiss as their bodies intertwined.

"I love you," Nick breathed out when their mouths finally parted. "Thank you for makin' my biggest fantasy come true on a night that was supposed to be all about you."

Just as Greg was about to reply, there was a loud knock on the front door of the suite. "If that's my mother ruining this for me, I'll…"

"I'm sure it's room service."

Repetitively banging his head into a pillow, Greg disagreed, "I bet she has our rings on GPS and was instantly alerted that we moved them to the left."

"It's room service." Nick stole a quick kiss before reluctantly sliding out of bed. "I'll have the waiter leave everything out in the living room, then I'll wheel it in here."

"Ashamed of the little woman, are you?"

"No," Nick chuckled, "I'm worried it really is your mom and I love my husband too much to have him behind bars for murder." He winked, "No, really it's because you're only wearin' a towel and that would be weird." When he reached the bedroom door, he joked, "Hey, do you think I look too gay in this robe?"

"Compared to when you were ravenously consuming six and a half inches of my body, you're lookin' pretty straight to me right now." Listening to Nick's carefree laughter, Greg's heart soared. "Second knock, you better answer before Jan kicks down the door."

"Be right there!"

When Nick hustled out of the room, Greg rolled out of bed to fetch his complimentary bathrobe and hurried to join him. "Sorry, the suspense was killing me," he announced, bounding into the main room. The sight of food brought great relief.

"Told ya." After shutting the door, Nick walked over to the cart. "Cath must have sent up the bottle of Dom with the order, because I didn't ask for it." He plucked the card from the bottle, read it and immediately tucked it in his robe pocket.

Greg screeched, "It's from my mother, isn't it?!"

"No."

"Give me the card."

"Let's just eat." Trying not to laugh, Nick grabbed a plate of cheesecake. "Mmm, your favorite."

"Card! Now!" Greg lunged for his spouse's robe pocket. "Or we'll tie Britney Spears for shortest Vegas marriage."

Shaking with laughter, Nick handed it over.

_To the lovebirds in Suite 4:  
__  
__Oh what a night!  
__Good thing the walls are soundproof.  
__Enjoy the bubbly, boys!_

_From your neighbors in Suite 5  
__(aka Catherine and Warrick)_

"Gotcha!" Nick clapped his hands. "The look on your face."

"But they're not together. They don't even speak to each other unless it's work-related."

"Yeah, well…" Grinning, Nick poured two glasses of champagne. "Maybe Cupid, aka **me**, helped them out a bit." Handing over a glass, he toasted, "To our happy, healthy, and lengthy marriage."

"I'll toast to that." They tapped glasses. "And I'll drink to that." They sipped. "I'll also kiss to that." Running his left hand through Nick's hair, Greg grazed his mouth over his husband's. "Sweet," he commented, smacking his champagne-tinged lips.

"Yeah," Nick agreed while staring at the ring on his left hand, "as terrifying as my week started out, it's ending sweeter than I ever imagined."

* * *

**ANs: **

A little pre Valentine's Day romance :)

Thanks to KJT for editing and to my hubby for previewing, and to everyone who left comments on the last chapter : )

I rec'd several questions about Barker not having a bullet proof vest on, so I wanted to put a general answer here - I researched the vest thing. In places with high temperatures in hot months, many officers not working a high violence area actually sit on their vests in their cars and then put them on when they feel it's needed. Since they were going to a casino and didn't expect the suspect to have a gun (since the vic was stabbed) Barker made a bad judgment call. I had plans on mentioning that in the future. Another thing I learned - if they sit on the vest incorrectly, causing it to kink up, they can actually make holes that will allow the bullets to go thru. And a crazy thing I learned - cops only get like $500 a year on uniforms and equipment. They get 1 vest to start but if they want to upgrade, they have to buy it. Most spend the money on uniforms because they have to washed every day because they sweat like crazy in the heat. So Barker's been on the force for 13 years and probably has his original vest. I was surprised by all that info!

**The next round of chapters will start posting on Monday, March 3.** Taking a 2 week break in between rounds allows me to pace myself and keep my health, fitness and family stuff on track! And it allows KJT to work in editing on her heavy social calendar!! I'll tell you, Australia sounds and looks (from the photos she's taken) like a great place to live…except for the deadly spiders, bugs and snakes, but people probably say that about the desert southwest too LOL

**Thanks for reading!  
****Maggs**


	29. Chapter 29: Family Business Part 1

**The Day Before You  
****By: MsMaggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 29: Family Business – Part 1**

It was just after 8am when Nick pulled his truck into the Sanders's driveway. "G, I saw you get choked up listenin' to Skin. Admit it, you're a Rascal Flatts fanboy."

"It had nothing to do with Rascal Flatts. The song is about an innocent teenage girl with cancer whose boyfriend shows up bald on prom night so she'll go even though she doesn't have hair."

"The boyfriend shavin' his head is the best part."

Greg muttered, "I got choked up because the sad storyline caught me off guard."

"Uh huh." Nick yanked the keys out of the ignition while coughing 'fanboy'.

Rolling his eyes, Greg opened his door. "Dude, I listen to music to chill out." He waited for Nick to join him in front of the truck. "Thinking about cancer-stricken little girls makes me sad. Why would I want to listen to music that makes me depressed?" He stood with his arms folded across his chest. "I have to cope with enough depressing crap on the job."

"Aww, you missed the point of the song, honey." Still buzzing from exchanging rings twenty-eight hours earlier, the romantic placed his hand over his heart and educated his spouse, "It's about unconditional love. Sara Beth is afraid she'll die without knowin' what it's like to fall in love and experience life with someone special. I felt just like her when I was six feet under."

Suddenly feeling like the Grinch, Greg stopped protesting.

"Sara Beth's stittin' home at rock bottom when her prom date shows up, but then she finds out that he doesn't care what she looks like on the outside, because he loves her for her inner beauty. Later, in his arms at the prom, she's so happy, she even stops bein' scared. I can relate to that too, because I was alone and scared before you came along and made everything okay."

The sentiment melted Greg's disdain for hillbilly tunes.

"That's why I love country music, it's about life and the words and the emotions in the songs are relatable. There are dozens of songs that remind me about us." Nick pointed at his now-smiling partner, "I'm gonna make you a mix tape to show you what I mean."

"I've always wanted someone to make me a mix tape." When he saw Nick's smile fade, he said, "What's wrong?"

"I just realized we don't have a tape player or recorder."

"No one's ever made me a mix-CD either, so you're good, Cletus."

"I feel so married," Nick remarked, both thrilled and surprised by the revelation.

"Me too." Greg snickered, "And I can't wait to break the news to Jan, so let's…"

"Hello there!" Suzie Perkins cheerily yelled as she trotted from her front yard across the street.

"Who's she?" Nick asked.

"A neighbor I guess." Greg waved at the approaching stranger. "She looks like Bree Van de Kamp from Desperate Housewives but ten years older and twenty pounds plumper, doesn't she?"

Nick snarked, "Like I've ever wasted my time watchin' that stupid ass show."

"Hi, I'm Suzie Perkins, I live across the street." Eyeing the handsome dark-haired stranger, she extended her hand.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Nick returned the handshake.

"Is everything alright?" she whispered. "The people that live here just moved in and they haven't been very social. I'm hoping you Forensics boys aren't responding to something grisly."

Greg pointed to his partner. "Forensics is on the back of your sweatshirt."

"Ah." Nick flashed a disarming smile. "We're LVPD Forensics guys, but we're off duty."

Extending his hand, Greg smiled, "I'm Greg Sanders, aka the son of the new people who live here and haven't been very social."

"Oh my gosh." Suzie covered her mouth. "Forgive me, I was worried and I wasn't thinking before I spoke. My husband says I do that all the time, maybe he's right."

"Don't worry," Greg assured the woman, "my mom has been really busy with moving and getting my sisters settled, but once she has a little free time on her hands, I guarantee she'll be social."

"I'll have to invite her to join our Book Club. We mostly eat and gossip, but eventually we mention the book."

Greg assured the sunny homemaker, "My mother loves reading, cooking, and meddling, so she will be a great addition to your club."

"Aren't you funny." She chuckled with the guys before asking, "So, are you two partners?"

"Is it that obvious?" Nick blurted, surprised that their love was suddenly apparent to total strangers.

"See, marriage agrees with us, Cletus." Greg tossed his arm around his spouse and told the open-minded neighbor, "We only tied the knot on Saturday night. We haven't even told…" When he saw Suzie gasp and cover her mouth he removed his arm. "You meant police partners, didn't you?"

Thinking of his own nasty neighbor, Nick defensively informed the woman, "Don't worry, we don't live here."

"No, it's okay," Suzie smoothly recovered, "I love gays. Tim Gunn is my favorite one. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's a great guy," Greg enthusiastically replied, "I sat next to him at last month's gay meeting."

Nick choked on his laughter.

"Hey, boys!" Tawny came bounding down the front walk. "Good thing you're here, because Jan's inside cursing you for being late for breakfast. She made strata."

"Strata, it's not even Christmas!" Greg whooped. "She must have sensed it was a special occasion."

While slipping one arm around each guy, Tawny smiled at the silent stranger. "Are you hitting on my boys?"

Suzie was too mesmerized by the petite woman's DD boobs to hear.

"She's staring at the girls." Tawny sighed, "Now do you see why I'm getting the reduction next week even though I won't need to make breast milk for our babies for a while? No one will take me seriously until I have my B's back."

"Babies?" Suzie uttered.

"I'm not one of the adopted girls, I'm living here to go to college and be the surrogate mommy for these guys."

Nick wished he had thought to cover her mouth. "We've probably given Mrs. Perkins more than enough to mull over for the morning." He motioned for Greg and Tawny to start walking. "It was lovely meetin' you, ma'am. Have a good day."

"You too," Suzie robotically replied while trying to decide which of her neighbors should hear the gossip first.

"Sorry," Tawny apologized as they walked into the house. "I shouldn't have talked about boobs and babies."

"No," Nick gently scolded, "we don't want to make things difficult for Cassie and Jenni, we want them to fit into the neighborhood."

"There you are!" Jan exclaimed as she hurried into the living room wiping her hands on her floral apron.

Watching his mother's apron strings flapping in the breeze as she bitched, Greg lifted his left hand and waved. "Hi, Mom, sorry we're late, but your neighbor cornered us."

Tawny scurried out of the room before they could say she blurted private information.

"Greg!" Shaking her head, Jan grabbed her son's left hand. "You put your ring on the wrong finger after washing up."

Nick shot a warning look at his spouse to remind him that they agreed he would handle the reveal maturely.

"No, it's on the right hand."

Jan laughed in her son's face, "Some genius you are, you can't even tell your right from your left."

"I meant it's on the _correct_ hand." Smiling uncontrollably, Greg shared, "We were so in love and sure about the future on Saturday night, we got married in the privacy of our hotel suite."

Seeing Jan's shock, Nick assured her, "We're still gonna have the wedding ceremony, that's not changed."

"What?!" The disappointed mother lashed out, "How can there be a ceremony to exchange rings when you've already exchanged them?"

Greg calmly replied, "We're going to hold hands and have the minister bless our rings at the ceremony while confirming our commitment to one another in front of our families and God. It'll be great, trust me. Nick came up with everything. He'll tell you the details over breakfast."

Pissed that her plans were changing, Jan huffed, "What makes you think you're still invited to breakfast?"

"Mom…" After a calming breath, Greg pleaded, "Please just be happy for me, because I've honestly never been happier. Nick went above and beyond to take me on the best date of my life. I can't wait to tell you guys about it." He snickered, "I'll give you the PG version since there will be minors present."

"Still not enthused," the frustrated mother grumbled.

"Jan, maybe this will help." Taking Greg's hand, the anxious son-in-law explained, "Havin' that gun pulled on me at the scene last week was a wake up call for us. It's the reason we worked with your husband's lawyers to finalize the Domestic Partnership in California ahead of schedule, so we're set in case something bad happens." Glancing at his partner, Nick sweetly said, "On Saturday night we decided we wanted a little more than pieces of paper, we wanted to be married in our hearts too." He met his mother-in-law's eyes. "I waited decades to find love, Jan, and even though it seems silly that I couldn't wait another seven weeks after all that time, I couldn't, I'm sorry. I just love your son that much."

Greg laughed to himself. _Once a ladies man, always a ladies man._

Tearing up over the sentiment, Jan replied, "When you put it like that, Nicky."

"Congratulations," Dave merrily declared from his position in the living room doorway. "That was very touching, Nick." His love and acceptance of the man doubled. "My son's a lucky guy."

"Hey, Nick's lucky too," Jan added in defense of her son. "My boy's a great catch."

* * *

After listening to Mandy dreamily recount the details of her romantic Saturday night with Henry for twenty minutes, Wendy couldn't wait to grab her stuff and bolt from the locker room. "I'm really happy for you," she sincerely told her pal before breaking into a colossal yawn. "Sorry, I'm coming off ten exhausting hours and I still haven't solved my case." 

"The first one's always the toughest," Mandy laughed, "except for Greg, he did great with his first two and almost blew it because he couldn't get number three."

"Thanks for planting that in my head." Sighing, Wendy popped open her locker. "What's this?" she curiously remarked when she saw a brown envelope with the words 'READ ME' on it in black marker.

"Ooh, mystery envelope. Someone must have slid it inside." Mandy motioned for her friend to open it. "I hope it's not nude photos of you that an old boyfriend is trying to use to blackmail you."

"Since I can't remember the last time I was nude with a boyfriend, I don't think so."

Mandy teased, "Okay then, nude photos of you that a one-night stand is using to blackmail you."

"Keep going and your murder will be real easy for me to solve." Opening the envelope she saw a note. "Photo 141, evidence bag 62, put it together and follow the clue."

"Ooh!"

"Hodges."

"You think so?"

Wendy's reply was a smile.

"Give me everything." Mandy carefully snatched it. "I'll dust it and see if we can bust him."

* * *

"You have to eat a waffle, you carb-fearing freak." Greg pulled his latest one from the waffle iron and placed it in front of his spouse. "Nana Olaf's waffles are legendary. They were the only reason I could get kids to come over my house for play dates." 

"Aww," the girls sang as a trio.

"Sad but true, ladies," Greg looked at his mother. "You should show them my dorktastic 3rd grade photo to erase their doubts."

"I wanna see," Nick announced, already picturing the snapshot in his mind.

"If you eat the waffle," Jan snickered.

With the entire family razzing him, Nick succumbed to the pressure. "Okay, okay, I'll eat it, but only 'cause we just got married and the waffle looks romantic with the five little hearts."

Jan educated her son-in-law, "If it's not shaped like that, it's not an authentic Norwegian waffle."

Sitting at the head of the table, Dave quietly took in the family scene. It was hard to believe that his empty nest had become fuller than it had ever been. His wife was happier than she had been in the ten years since her parents' deaths and Greg moving out of state. Some women were born to be doctors and lawyers, but the only thing Jan ever wanted to be was a nurturer and a mother. Intense and controlling as she was, he knew it was never for nefarious purposes. Her heart was full of love and her actions were always rooted in good intentions. Jan had felt compelled to overlove Greg, because he was underloved by the world, but now that Nick was loving him just right, he could tell she was stepping back as much as she could. At 33, Greg was a saint for still putting up with her antics, but like father like son, the boy knew the truth and couldn't deny the one person who had always unconditionally loved him during the hardest of times and on the saddest of occasions.

"What are you grinning about down there?" Jan asked her husband from across the table.

"My family," Dave replied, smiling at all of them. "I'm crazy about every dysfunctional one of you and I'm hoping that if you take a bunch of dysfunctional people and make a family out of them, you get a functional family, as opposed to a family that starts out under normal conditions and becomes horribly dysfunctional."

"Like my family," Nick remarked while scraping his last piece of waffle in a pool of syrup and melted butter. "I like that theory, Dave, and I love bein' part of this family, assuming you were including me."

"Absolutely." Dave teased his son-in-law, "What would a family of dysfunctionals be without an uptight, gay, jock control freak with PTSD, OCD, and Daddy issues? We need you for balance, son."

"Yeah," Tawny jumped to agree, "you balance out my Mommy issues, low self-esteem, child of an alcoholic, and abandonment issues real well."

"Ditto." Jenni raised her glass of OJ. "But it's good to have things in common too. Like Greg knowing what it feels like to have people hate you for something you didn't cause, but to the outside world, you're the one to blame. My mom caused the bus crash, but everyone said it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't missed the bus, but I wouldn't have missed the bus if my mother hadn't been drunk and breaking the law. All I was trying to do was get to school. Greg was just trying to do his job when Demetrius James broke the law and did something wrong." She breathed and smiled at her progress, "My therapist told me last week that we shouldn't feel guilty because of wrong things other people did."

"Easier said than done," Greg replied, still trying to do the same, "but in theory I know your therapist is right."

"How's the firearms certification going, son?" Dave would rest easier once he knew his boy wasn't unarmed in the field.

"Oh, um…" When Nick patted his thigh, Greg confessed, "I was doing pretty good at the range with Nick, but after my actions at the hospital last week, my request for certification was put on hold until I undergo a Psych Eval. Something about not wanting to give a loaded gun to a guy seemingly still loaded with rage."

At odds with LVPD policy since the lab explosion, Dave snapped, "What about the cop who put stitches in Nick's head? I sure as hell hope they're taking away his gun too."

Nick answered. "He's suspended through next week, but then he's on desk duty for six months while he completes community service, anger management, and sensitivity training obligations."

"But you guys are so backlogged that Greg has to keep going out in the field unarmed." Dave rolled his eyes.

Greg warned his sisters, "This is usually when I get the 'you should tell them to shove it and take a corporate research job paying you six-figures' speech."

"No, I'm not going to say it." Dave pushed past his urge to spew some tough love. "You're 33 and married now, son, your life is not mine to meddle in anymore." He shut up and ranted in silence. _If you want to be underpaid, underappreciated and repeatedly shit on by the County that's your prerogative, but I'll be here if you need me to pay for a quality plastic surgeon a third time. _"I love you and support your decision to hang tough."

"Thanks, Dad." Greg knew his father was silently ranting. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. Save your strength for protecting the youngsters."

* * *

"I'm sure you see the problems with parading around a homo-hero." The Governor's PR rep grimaced at the Mayor and the Sheriff. "It would have been nice for one of you to mention Stokes was gay before our office selected Cassie McBride's essay as the winner. We would have picked the boy who wrote about his mother's heroic battle with cancer." 

"We didn't know at the time," the Sheriff droned. "I thought we were going to get a shitload of positive PR out of Stokes being picked, not a fucking political nightmare."

"You mean like the racial uprising one of your CSIs caused?" The mayor snapped at the Sheriff, "I'm still getting hate mail over Sanders and the Demetrius James bullshit. As if it wasn't bad enough that the gangster lowlife piece of shit cost us two million, he's been dead for eight months, but his ghost is haunting my re-election campaign on a daily basis."

The Sheriff decided to let the other shoe drop. "There's something else you need to know." He tensed in his chair, "Stokes is partners with Sanders."

"Since when do you partner up your CSIs?" the Mayor quizzed. "I thought they were assigned to shift teams."

"Not that kind of partner."

"You mean they're romantically involved?" the Mayor asked in shock.

"I don't find the idea of two guys screwing each other romantic, but for the sake of brevity, I'll say yes. They have matching rings and are having a commitment ceremony next month."

"Son of a bitch!" The mayor paced the room like a caged tiger. "We're honoring the gay lover of the CSI who caused a frigging race war?! So not only will the homo-haters protest, we'll have every pissed off black in the city screaming injustice."

"Gentlemen, I have an idea." The PR Rep calmly stated, "I'm sure they can't afford a decent honeymoon on the pissant salary you pay them, so how about we change the award format to a monetary prize instead of presentation and a reception. To placate the girl, give her scholarship money and just to be safe, a gift card to the mall – tweens love that shit."

"Buy them off?" the Sheriff clarified. "Like we haven't paid off enough people to shut up in the last year."

"Stokes and the orphan aren't greedy bastards like Mrs. James; one's a working class hero and the other is a messed up foster. Give them five grand each and they'll be ecstatic." The PR Rep smiled. "End of problem."

* * *

"I solved it," Wendy sweetly announced as she snuck up behind Hodges in the Break Room. 

"Solved what?" The confused Trace Tech asked, trying desperately not to offend his dream girl with one of his customary snarky replies.

"You not taking immediate credit for something?" She burst out laughing. "Cats and dogs must be frolicking in the streets."

"Sorry, I'm exhausted from putting in an extra ten hours."

"Come on, Davey, fess up." She gave him a playful nudge. "I came here all prepared to be sincere and thank you for being my friend, even though you're not in favor of me becoming a CSI."

"Friend," he stated, surprised to hear her use the word. "You think of me as a friend?"

"After what you did," she grinned, "I'll even go as far as to say you're on your way to becoming a good friend."

"Really?" His spirits soared. "H…how good? Like having coffee and chit-chat together kind of good friends, or going out to dinner together good friends, or…"

"Stop there before you say something that kills the mood."

As Wendy stepped closer, Hodges took her advice and clamped his lips shut.

"How about I take you to dinner to thank you for being a nice guy?" Immensely grateful for his silent devotion, she leaned against the countertop and stared into his eyes. "I've been pretty harsh with you and while some of it…a lot of it, was justified, I'm ready to give a dinner date a chance."

"Date?!" he blurted.

"Let's not advertise, okay? Not that I don't want people to know, but you know how the gossip goes around this place. They'll have me pregnant after one date."

"Mandy really did get pregnant after one date."

"Yeah, well, I won't be getting pregnant on our date, because unlike Mandy, I won't be getting drunk or naked." When she saw him wince, she backpedaled, "Not that I'm saying that a woman has to be drunk to sleep with you."

"Actually, aside from the ones I've paid, they all have been drunk." After thinking about his statement, he said, "The hookers were probably wasted too now that I think about it." When Wendy covered his mouth with her palm, he took the hint and shut up again.

"Will tonight work for you?"

Hodges tried not to squeal with excitement while nodding.

"Nine o'clock at Sakura sound good?"

Since Burger King with Wendy would have been heavenly, he happily nodded.

"I'll meet you in the bar at nine then." Just as she turned to leave, she saw Mandy rushing in waving a piece of paper. "What's wrong with you?"

When Hodges strolled by her whistling a happy tune, Mandy knew that Wendy had gone ahead and asked him out as a thank you. "I have the information you were supposed to wait for." She handed it over rolling her eyes. "Your print results, Ms. Intuitive CSI."

Grinning, Wendy glanced down to confirm what she already knew. "What?! Greg sent the note?"

"Good thing you won't be allowed to guess whodunit when you're a CSI."

"You're sure?"

"His prints were all over the tape used to seal the envelope."

"But I already asked out Hodges," the DNA Tech lamented.

"And what would Freud say about that?" Mandy pushed up her glasses. "Maybe there was a reason you didn't wait."

* * *

"Sorry to eat and run," Jan announced while saying goodbye to Nick and Greg in the kitchen. "But I'm sure two CSIs will be great at cleaning up the scene." She was taking the girls shopping to keep Cassie's mind off the end of year school party she opted not to attend because it was being held at the lake. 

"We have it covered, Mom." Greg pecked her cheek. "Thanks for not getting pissed about re-doing the ceremony."

"For the record, if you had come here to say you were cancelling it, I would have disowned you." Smiling, she patted his cheek. "Your father is in his office on a conference call, don't forget to say goodbye to him before you leave."

"We won't," Nick assured her while bringing plates to the sink.

As soon as his mother was gone, Greg flipped on the countertop radio. "I'm feeling generous, so I'll put on your favorite hillbilly station, Cletus."

"Aww, that was _Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy_ that just ended." Nick winked, "I'd love to sing that one to ya…in bed."

"Don't make me think dirty thoughts under my parents' new roof." Opening the dishwasher, Greg snickered, "I spent a decade spanking the monkey under their other roof and I'm trying to turn over a new leaf."

When Nick heard Keith Urban's _Making Memories of Us_ start playing, he burst into a smile, "This is one of the songs I planned on puttin' on your mix tape."

"I'll actually listen to it now that I know it's mix tape worthy."

"Good, because the words in this song are exactly how I feel."

Rinsing dishes, Greg pondered the opening lyrics _I'm gonna be here for ya, baby. I'll be a man of my word – speak the language in a voice that you have never heard._ _I want to sleep with you forever and I want to die in your arms in a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm_. "Dying in a meadow full of bees sounds like Grissom's ideal death scenario, doesn't it?"

"Ha! I thought that the first time I heard the song."

"Great minds think alike."

"I'm flattered you put my mind in the same league as yours, genius." Setting another pile of plates on the counter, Nick sang the chorus, "And I'm gonna love you, like nobody loves you. And I'll earn your trust making memories of us."

"Reminds me of Saturday night," Greg said with a smile.

"Exactly." Nick wrapped his arms around his partner from behind and tenderly continued to croon, "I wanna honor your mother, and I wanna learn from your pa." He growled the next line while swaying their bodies, "I wanna steal your attention like a bad outlaw."

Greg shivered with pleasure when a juicy kiss landed squarely on his neck. "That move will always get you my full attention."

"I wanna stand out in a crowd for you, a man among men." Feeling the sentiment, Nick snuggled up close, "I wanna make your world better than it's ever been."

"The job's all yours, Cletus."

Standing at the end of the hallway, Dave watched the romantic moment play out. After worrying about Nick's controlling behavior, the tenderness brought sweet relief. It was also undeniably nice to see that the physical relationship wasn't only about sex._ I'm appreciating you a little more every hour, Nicky. _Just as he was about to back away, he saw his son-in-law initiate a slow dance. Curiosity getting the best of him, he continued to watch.

"My hands are wet and soapy."

"I don't care." Nick winked, "We'll follow the rainbow, wherever the four winds blow…"

"A country song with gay subtext? I didn't see that coming." Greg chuckled as Nick subtly tried to give him dancing lessons.

Completely in love with the man in his arms, Nick softly sang as they swayed in perfect harmony, "I'm gonna be here for ya from now on, this you know somehow." He caressed his partner's cheek. "You've been stretched to the limits, but it's alright now."

Hopelessly swooning, Greg whispered, "My life is much, much more than alright now."

It was exactly the response Nick was hoping for, so he continued his musical vows, "I'm gonna make you a promise…if there's life after this, I'm gonna be there to meet you with a warm wet kiss."

"Give me a preview," Greg urged.

Nick filled the request by caressing his lover's lips with a slow, burning kiss that quickly took a passionate turn.

As uncomfortable as it was to watch his son share a torrid kiss with a man, it was nice to know his boy was finally seeing some quality action after many lean years.

Breaking the kiss, Nick resumed the dance, belting out the last chorus, "And I'm gonna love you, like nobody loves you…"

When Greg heard his dance partner's cell phone obnoxiously interrupt the perfect moment, he grumbled, "Don't they know we're on our honeymoon?"

"You better answer that," Dave announced upon approach. "I have a feeling it's the Sheriff's office."

Feeling awkward about dancing in the kitchen in front of his father-in-law, Nick jumped back and grabbed his cell. "How did you know…"

"Because Mama Evelyn just called me to say that the Sheriff called her in regards to Cassie's hero essay and the award presentation. He wanted to know if she could meet with him today. Evelyn was Cassie's guardian at the time the essay was written and I guess they haven't heard she was adopted."

* * *

"That dress is perfect for the ceremony, Cassie." Savoring every motherly moment, Jan smoothed her hand over the girl's hair. "What do you think, Sweetie?" 

"I feel like I could be in a fashion magazine," the 12 year old honestly replied while looking at her reflection in the trendy coral and white dot-print charmeuse dress. "Do you think Nick will like it?"

"Totally," Tawny confidently answered, "because it has Southern charm."

* * *

"Did you fart again, Cletus?" Greg rolled down the truck's window and stuck his head out of it like a dog enjoying the breeze. 

"You made me eat that damn waffle."

"Nice try, but waffles don't make people fart."

"They do if you're not used to eatin' one."

"Uh huh."

Pulling into the driveway, Nick chuckled, "Hey, if you have a problem with my ass's behavior, then you don't have to come near it ever again."

"Fortunately I'm a very forgiving person."

"I figured you would be." Nick grabbed his keys from the ignition and hopped out of the truck. "Do you want to come with me to this meeting?"

"To hang with the Sheriff who said things would have been so much simpler and economical if I had died after killing Demetrius James?" While walking to the front door, Greg pretended to ponder the idea. "It's tempting, but I think I'll get a double root canal without Novocain instead."

"I figured you'd say somethin' like that." When Nick opened the door and heard the distinct sounds of Cowboy Troy's _I Play Chicken with the Train_ blasting through the house, he cringed.

"I hope this song isn't going to be on my mix tape."

"No." After tossing his keys on the entry table, Nick started for the family room to turn the music down. "I hope the windows aren't open or we'll be hearin' from Mrs. Kravitz again."

"Yeah, and then she'll…oh shit." Smack in the middle of the family room floor was Roy, who was wearing a black cowboy hat and a grimace of ecstasy as Bobby Dawson thrilled him. "How about we just tip toe out of here and they'll never know we…" When he saw his partner's blood boiling, he knew that wasn't an acceptable option.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nick's voice boomed over the blaring music, startling the lovers whose eyes had been clamped shut.

Bobby gasped when he saw that they were busted. As much as he couldn't imagine staying where he was, he couldn't imagine disengaging in front of spectators, especially one who was probably going to kill him. Luckily Roy had his wits about him and tossed a nearby blanket over them, so they could have a little privacy as they parted ways.

"It's not what it looks like," Roy explained to his seething cousin.

Bobby knew that answer wasn't going to fly.

"Really?" Nick fired back, "It looks like you're havin' sex with my co-worker in my house when I've made it clear that you're not allowed to bring people here. Which part do I have wrong?!"

"You said I couldn't bring strangers home," Roy quickly clarified. "Bobby's not a stranger, he's your friend."

"That's up for debate now," Nick narrowed his gaze on the Ballistics Tech. "I guess I know why my cousin rushed me out of the bathroom at the Tangiers the other night. He didn't want me to find out you were one of the guys in the stall."

"I um…" Bobby gulped the lump in his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about.

Greg calmly whispered to his partner, "Don't jump to conclusions, let Roy explain."

"He wasn't at The Tangiers," Roy stated, reminding himself that his cousin wasn't very worldly. "That was me partyin'. This is different."

"Did you hustle my co-worker?" Nick replied, suddenly feeling nauseous. "Or did he approach you?" If it was Bobby's idea, he feared what he'd do.

"Please, stop." Greg stepped in front of Nick. "We're not at work, this isn't an interrogation. Let Roy explain without interrupting him, please." He whispered, "You're reminding me why I used to get so pissed off at my father when he'd misinterpret a situation and blast me without hearing anything I had to say."

"Okay, fine." Nick stuffed his hands on his hips. "Start talkin'."

"Bobby and I met at Greg's birthday party and hit it off. We're together."

"Except when you're at The Tangiers," Nick interjected much to his partner's dismay. "So I guess Bobby just found out you cheated on him? And you," he scowled at his co-worker, "you didn't think I might have a problem with you sleepin' with my 20 year old cousin?"

"Nick, come on, it's not like he took my cherry," Roy couldn't stop the chuckle rising. "Bobby knows I party with whoever I want, but I only have sex with him. We're really happy with the arrangement and each other."

"Huh?" Nick couldn't get his head around the concept. "What exactly are you getting in return for letting a guy almost twice your age have unlimited access to your ass?"

"How about we give you guys five minutes to pull yourselves together?" Greg took his partner by the arm and led him down the hall. "We'll be back."

"I can't believe this," Nick huffed as he marched into the home office. "I don't know which of 'em I'm more pissed at."

"Neither would be a good choice." Greg shut the door and then leaned against it. "Is this how we're going to parent? Me asking you to calm down and listen and you managing it for thirty seconds? Because I'd like to remind you that neither of us had good relationships with our dads, so how can we expect our kids to have good relationships with us if we act just like either of our fathers?"

"So I'm just supposed to condone that shit under my own roof?" Nick stood his ground. "Sorry, that's my little cousin out there with a guy older than me."

"Roy isn't little anymore, he's twenty and he's already more worldly than I'll ever be." Greg cut to the heart of the matter, "How many chicks had you slept with by the time you were Roy's age?"

"G…"

"Admit it, if Roy was straight and we had come home and found him with a 37 year old babe, the old Nick would have said atta boy and given him a cigar."

"Hey!" Nick's frustration soared, "He said he was sick of bein' nothin' more than a piece of ass in San Francisco, so I gave him a safe place to live and paid for his college tuition, so he could have a normal life again."

"And what's so abnormal about horny Texas college boys looking for as much action as possible?" As Nick paced the room, Greg calmly said, "Roy not wanting to be exploited and Roy not fooling around aren't the same thing. I think you just want Roy to have the same type of relationship you and me do, but he's not that kind of guy, at least not yet. It took you until thirty-five to be that kind of guy."

"So you think I'm a hypocrite."

"No, I think you're worried about your cousin and want him to find happiness like you have." Greg walked over and slipped his arms around his partner's waist. "And like any good parent, you don't want him to make the same mistakes you made."

"Yeah, that's definitely part of it," Nick confessed. "Sleepin' around for years didn't do much for my peace of mind."

"Roy's on the fence. He wants stability, so he's in relationship with Bobby, but he's not ready to stop partying, because he's young, used to the lifestyle, and meeting hot guys all the time."

"Wait a sec." Nick's investigator sixth-sense finally caught up with him. "You're talkin' like you knew about their relationship."

"Yeah. I told them that they had to come clean with you, but they've been putting it off." Smiling, Greg said, "But since I didn't want to keep a secret from my husband, I called Roy yesterday and said they had to tell you when we returned from The Tangiers or I would tell you. I'm guessing that's why Bobby was here…among other reasons. I told them we'd be back two hours from now, so they weren't expecting to get caught in the act."

After a couple of deep breaths, Nick said, "I think you're gonna be a better dad than me. I'm gonna be the hothead whose kids hate him."

"I'm gonna be the geek dad who can't coach football, or baseball, or any sport."

"You'll teach 'em chess."

"Won't that make me supercool."

The sound of his partner's geeky laugh finally brought the smile back to Nick's face.

"You okay with everything?"

"Yeah," Nick whispered, "It was a little weird for me to see two guys goin' at it who aren't in a movie. Even weirder because I'm related to one of them."

"At least you didn't find your grandparents doing it in the kitchen."

"No, really?"

Greg shivered at the thought of the trauma. "Twice."

* * *

"I can't believe I got pregnant on the first try," Sara remarked as she lazed on the couch flipping through the first of six pregnancy books Gil had brought home for her. "That's only supposed to happen to virginal teens." 

"And Mandy according to the watercooler set." Washing strawberries in the kitchen, Gil said, "Want to hear about the break we may have in a cold case?"

"It would be a violation of department policy to discuss case details with a civilian."

"I'm willing to trust that you won't gossip since you rarely leave the house."

"I walk Bruno twice a day."

"I stand corrected," he politely replied. "Your friends keep asking me when you're going to return their calls."

"I should be taking vitamins."

Gil took the shift of subject as a hint. "Yes, you should be taking vitamins."

"Can you pick some up for me on the way home tomorrow?"

"No."

Sara glanced over the top of the book.

"If you're not going to talk to your friends, I want you to at least make human contact with the sales clerk at Hi-Health."

"I talk to people when I walk the dog." When her husband shot her a look, she relented, "Okay, okay, I'll buy the damn vitamins, so** your** kid isn't born with three arms."

"I'm sure **our **child will thank you for that."

* * *

"Thank you for clearing your schedules to meet with me," the Sheriff robotically remarked as he glanced up from his paperwork. "Nick, I…where is Evelyn?" 

"She's no longer Cassie's foster mother, because my wife and I legally adopted Cassie a couple of weeks ago. I have the paperwork with me if you need proof." Dave didn't offer a handshake. "You might remember me from when we encountered each other outside my son's hospital room. Dave Sanders."

"Right." _Shit!_ "It's good to see you under better circumstances."

"I wish I could say the same," Dave grumbled as he took a seat in a guest chair next to Nick.

Deciding to stick to the agreed upon plan, the Sheriff popped on his politician's smile and forged ahead. "Congratulations, Nick, the department was very excited to learn that your heroics were the subject of an award winning essay from a schoolgirl."

"Thanks," Nick humbly replied. "I was just doin' my job and what other people did for me when I went missing. I don't need any more recognition than I already got with the commendation ceremony last year, but I'm real psyched for Cassie's sake that she won the contest. She's been lookin' for a way to pay me back since I found her, so she's finally at peace."

"I think she'll be more than at peace when you hear what I have to say." The Sheriff held up a $5,000 check and a $500 gift card for the mall. "We were able to acquire some donations and are going to give her this scholarship check and a little shopping spree."

The aroma of bureaucratic bullshit filling his nose, Dave remained silent.

"That's great!" Nick whooped. "She'll be over the moon."

"And there's more," the Sheriff merrily assured the easily pacified worker bee. "You're getting a $5,000 bonus and you're getting promoted to 'Senior Forensics Specialist'."

"What does that get him?" Dave queried while Nick beamed with pride. _My guess is 'a nifty title, extra responsibility, and no pay increase'. _

"Besides the prestigious title, which he'll be the first in LVPD history to have, he'll be Grissom's go-to guy and supervisory backup."

Dave nudged his son-in-law, "Aren't you going to ask him what the pay increase is?"

"I didn't even think about that," Nick chuckled, "it just felt nice to have my efforts finally recognized."

Dave smiled and nodded, _That's what the manipulative asshole is counting on, Nicky._

"I'm glad you feel that way, Stokes." The Sheriff grinned at the dedicated sap. "After the bonus, there wasn't any room in the budget to give you much of a raise this year, but next year…"

"I understand," Nick didn't want to seem ungrateful for the promotion. "I appreciate you callin' me down here to tell me in person too. Between this and the award ceremony, I'm gonna get a swelled head."

While he was certain his politically tone deaf son-in-law didn't think there was more, Dave, a seasoned businessman used to dealing with government blowhards, was waiting to hear the real reason they had been called there.

"About the award ceremony, gentlemen." The Sheriff relaxed in his premium leather desk chair. "There are some insurmountable logistics and scheduling issues with the Governor and Mayor's schedule, so we've had to change things a bit. We're going to have a very nice ceremony at a lovely restaurant where your families and guests can attend and enjoy a delicious dinner with me. Better than having tea and cookies with the Governor, don't you think?"

Before Nick could agree that it sounded swell, Dave said, "Here's exactly what I think. The Governor and Mayor didn't know Nick was gay when they picked Cassie's essay and the idea of lauding a gay hero gave all of you a case of the 'Re-election Shivers', so you called us down here to buy your way out of the mess." He enjoyed watching Nick's shock and the two-faced bastard's aggravation build. "Am I close, Sheriff?"

"Look, if this is about what happened to your son…"

"No, it's not about my son, it's about my daughter." Dave stood and loomed over the man. "Trust me, if I was the kind of man who interfered in his adult son's life, I would have told you to fuck off long ago." He pointed to Nick. "If he wants to take your offer and skip out of here whistling a happy tune, that's none of my business, but as a tax-paying citizen, I feel compelled to ask why a guy who keeps the streets a little safer and just saved two of LVPD's finest is only worth five grand and a bullshit promotion, when the mother of a coldblooded killer got 2.4 million dollars to get out of your hair!"

Nick wondered why it didn't dawn on him to ask that question.

"There's no reason to shout, Mr. Sanders."

"Right, I'll follow your example." Dave pulled out his key ring and yanked off two gold keys. "Here you go, Nick. Those are the keys to The Freyja. You can either take the five grand and bullshit promotion or you can have The Freyja." He grinned at the Sheriff, "The Freyja is my 40 foot Sunray sport yacht. It's valued at $475,000."

His head spinning, Nick stared at the keys that represented 8 years of take-home pay.

"Right, right, it's Vegas, you think I'm bluffing, don't you, Sheriff?" Dave gave an edgy chuckle, "Just because my son is an underpaid city employee, doesn't mean I am. I'm more of the self-made millionaire type. My company deals heavily in government contracts, that's why I was able to recognize your sleazy politician moves so easily." He tapped the jerk's computer screen. "Google my name and seismic retrofitting."

"Let's cut through the bullshit, shall we? We both know it will be a media circus if word gets out that we're honoring a gay hero, so what do you want from me, Sanders?"

"Hold up a minute." Though he felt increasingly foolish for falling for the Sheriff's con, Nick pushed beyond his ego and said, "The only thing that matters to me is Cassie's happiness, so I'd like to have some time alone with Dave to discuss her needs."

Grateful for the break, the Sheriff stood and pointed to his office door. "Go, I'll be here when you're done chatting."

* * *

"Nick barely said two words to me before he left." Roy therapeutically ran his finger's through Chico's coat as he sat on the family room floor talking to Greg. "Bobby's totally freaked. He's probably at home thinking I'm not worth this BS." 

"I really doubt that," Greg countered while stretching out on the couch and yawning. "You really care about him that much?"

"Yeah." Roy smiled at the dog. "Bobby is my front porch swing."

"Your front porch swing?"

"Whenever life would get too crazy or stressful back home, I'd head out to the front porch and sit on the swing. I'd stay there until I chilled out."

* * *

"I thought the fresh air might do us both some good," Dave commented as he led the way across the street to the city park. "Do you want a bottle of water?" He pointed. "There's a vendor." 

"No, thanks." Nick's stomach knotted as memories of agonizing lectures from his father surfaced.

"How's this bench?" It was in a semi-private spot.

Nick answered by taking a seat and beating Dave to the punch. "I realize I looked like a clueless idiot in there, so you don't have to bother pointin' it out. I missed every ounce of bullshit he was serving and you must think I'm the least intuitive CSI on the planet at this point. I fell for it all, and I bet you're wonderin' how your genius son is even compatible with a guy that slow on the uptake or how he could be content with someone who will never afford the stuff he grew up with."

"Is that what your father would be telling you right now?"

"No, the judge would have used a hell of a lot less words to make the same point."

"Look at me, Nick," Dave waited until he made eye contact. "You got conned by the Sheriff because you don't think like a self-centered prick. In the business world, I wouldn't hire you for that reason, but as far as son-in-law's go, I'd rather my boy be married to someone with a Texas-sized heart, not ego." Patting him on the back, he smiled, "If it weren't for you, and the work you do, we wouldn't have to discuss what's best for Cassie, because she would be dead. Yeah, I'm wealthy, but I'd argue your life is richer than mine in a lot of ways. Okay?"

"I…" Nick momentarily lost his words. "Wow, you looked out for me in the meeting and you didn't rip me to shreds for bein' dense. Thank you, that's more than I ever got from my own father, who would have sympathized with the Sheriff for having to deal with an unwanted gay issue."

"Anytime you need a father's opinion, help, love, money, anything, please know you can come to me."

His eyes welling, Nick glanced at the grass. "Thank you, I really appreciate it." The mention of money reminded him that he still had the keys to The Freyja. "Before I forget." He dangled the keys.

"Hold onto them, it's your wedding gift. I just didn't bother to mention that detail earlier."

"What?" Nick looked up. "I can't accept a half-million dollar boat as a gift. That's too much, way too much."

"We don't need it. Cassie is never going on it, not after what she's been through on a boat on a lake. She wouldn't even go to the big party her classmate's family is having at the lake today. It's not like it's leaving the family if I give it to you and Greg." Dave smiled, "And The Freyja is a sentimental place for the two of you since it was the location of your first time…" he winked, "on vacation together."

"Yeah," Nick glanced away chuckling, "I'll never forget that first vacation."

"That's one thing settled, but what are we going to do about Cassie and the ceremony?"

"I don't want Cassie to miss out on what she was promised, but I also don't want the whole thing to turn into a political circus, because I know from dealin' with my sister that things can turn ugly when you incite her kind. Greg and I have made some real progress at work since the incident at the hospital, I don't need it to get uncomfortable for us again."

"Those are all very good points."

"Yeah, but that thing you said about the payoff to the James family compared to 5,000 bucks for riskin' my life, that really hit home. That payoff did so much damage to Greg's peace of mind, so it really pissed me off when you put it all in perspective. Kind of like today when you said they won't let Greg take his firearms test, but they'll let him keep going into the field even though he's supposedly dangerous. We are underpaid, overworked fools, and that's hard to reconcile, even though I love my job and don't want to stop givin' a voice to victims like Cassie. Maybe you're right, maybe Greg and I should quit and get better, safer jobs."

"You don't have to do that," Dave counseled. "If you love what you do, you're not going to be happy working in a corporate lab for money-hungry CEOs like me. What I'd like to suggest is this...knowing you have me as a financial safety net, don't be afraid to speak up and get demanding. If they fire you, which they won't, because the last thing those people want is a discrimination lawsuit, you know you have a soft place to land. You've never had that before, now you do."

* * *

"I'm new to this," Sara told the health store sales clerk, Belinda, after several agonizing minutes. "And while the graphic details of your childbirth experiences, including the average number of episiotomy stitches you endured, are very informative, they're a little more than this newbie can handle right now. So, if you could just give me a bottle of pre-natal vitamins and take my money, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks." 

"OH! I get it." Tucking her bouncy blonde hair behind her ears, Belinda smiled at the squeamish woman. "You get nervous around blood, huh?

"Yes," Sara lied, "I've been known to faint at the sight of a paper cut."

Walking to the appropriate shelf, the clerk tried to allay the woman's fears. "Don't worry, they'll put a sheet over you and you don't have to watch. I asked for a big mirror because I wanted to enjoy the miracle of my child's birth right along with my husband. Is your husband squeamish too? Or will he be up to snapping pictures of the whole thing?"

"No, snapping photos of blood and guts isn't really my husband's thing." Hoping to avoid the bubbly baby goddess in the future, Sara handed over her Visa card. "Give me enough vitamins to last the entire pregnancy."

* * *

AN: 

Thanks for waiting for the chapter : ) I know the last one was all romance and that's not everyone's cup of tea, so hopefully the drama fans enjoyed the Sheriff scenes, Roy and Bobby caught in the act, and the Dave and Nick chat. The upcoming chapters will be moving some plots along and tying up loose ends.

The next one will post around March 7th. For those of you who have asked for a particular Nick and Cassie scene, Chapter 30 should do it for you.

Thanks for reading,

Maggs


	30. Chapter 30: Family Business Part 2

**The Day Before You  
****By: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 30: Family Business – Part 2**

"The Sheriff called you to his office to personally promote you?" Since the man hated him, Greg felt both excited for his partner and a little jealous.

"No." Still aggravated, Nick twisted open a cold bottle of water and threw the cap on the kitchen counter. "The bastard called us down there to inform us there wouldn't be an award ceremony for Cassie's essay. He tried to buy us off with a gift card and scholarship money for Cass, and a lame title-only promotion for me and a bonus of five grand."

"Why no ceremony?"

"They found out I'm gay and suddenly their PR wet dream turned into a political nightmare." Seeing his cousin working in the backyard, Nick walked to the sliding glass door.

"Cassie's going to be crushed."

"I'm goin' over to your parents' house in an hour to discuss it with her." Nick pointed out back. "Did you tell him to do yard work to suck up to me?"

"No, I was asleep on the couch until you came through the front door."

"Whenever us kids got in trouble at home, we always did yard work to get on my Dad's good side." Facing his partner, Nick sighed, "In my last therapy session, Dr. Henry explained that we did that because we knew my father's love was conditional, not unconditional. We had to be in his good graces for him to love us. I don't want my kids thinkin' I'll only love 'em if they're perfect."

"Luckily you have a little time to practice your parenting skills on the guinea pig in the backyard."

"I thought you said Roy was too old for me to parent?"

"After talking to him, I realized I was wrong. He's looking for a Daddy in all the wrong places."

"So my thinking was right, but my approach sucked, and your thinking was wrong, but you had a good approach?" Nick chuckled, "So, alone neither of us make the best dad, but together we'll be great."

"Yep." Greg opened the backdoor. "Now go talk to him…calmly."

* * *

"I wanted to strangle the bastard, Jan!" Dave shouted as he paced the kitchen, "This is the third god damn time he's screwing with my family and it's far from a charm!" 

"Now I know why you wanted Tawny to take the girls to the store." Outraged by the news that the award ceremony was canceled, the PFLAG warrior wasn't about to stay silent. "We can't let them get away with this."

"Nick doesn't want Cassie caught in the middle of a political drama. He says there's a group in Vegas that spends all their spare time protesting everything gay. He thinks they'll use the event to cause problems for everyone involved."

"I think Cassie's innocence is long gone. She already knows mean people exist and the world is a very unfair place, so I don't see the point of sheltering her from it now, especially when it comes at her expense. And do we really want to teach her that gay heroes aren't worthy of public recognition, only private thank-yous?"

"Do we really want to put her through more stress?"

"Like she isn't going to be upset when she finds out she won the contest, but isn't entitled to the prize?"

"I know, I know." Gripping the counter, he shook his head, "But she specifically said she wanted to go to a new school where no one looked at her funny. We moved her across town for a fresh start. If she becomes 'the girl with the gay hero' whose face is plastered on every newspaper and TV for a day, she'll be the kid that people look at funny again."

"I think there's a difference between being looked at funny for something tragic and beyond your control and being looked at funny for standing up for your rights and the rights of your hero and your brother."

"Nick's coming over in an hour to talk it through with her. He said she hates being babied and wouldn't appreciate us making a decision for her."

"What's there to decide if the Mayor and Governor still won't hold the ceremony?"

"We still have the option of telling the Sheriff that we're taking things public if Cassie is denied what she was promised."

"Wouldn't that cause problems for Nick and Greg at work?"

"Yeah, that's why my balls feel like they're in a vice. Either Cassie gets hurt to protect Nick and Greg, or the boys get hurt to get Cassie what she earned." The frustrated father sighed, "Nick and Greg may think they were each other's first times, but the truth is they've both been bending over and getting royally screwed by the Sheriff's Office for years."

Flooding with anger, Jan vented, "I guess our children need to gang up and kill innocent people before they get any sympathy in this town. Unbelievable! Sweet little Cassie isn't entitled to tea and cookies with the Governor, but Mrs. James has 2.4 mil in her bank account for her boy's evil deeds. Am I supposed to believe that Nicky is more of an embarrassment to this County than Demetrius James?!" Shaking with anger, she vowed, "There's no way in hell that I'm going to sit idly by and let this happen."

* * *

"I'm really sorry about what happened," Roy contritely apologized to his cousin without making eye contact. Standing in the backyard holding a hedge clipper, he said, "It was really disrespectful to break the rules and then try to get off on a technicality. Yeah, Bobby is your friend, but when you said you didn't want me bringin' people you didn't know home, it meant that you expected to know who I was hangin' out with under your roof. It won't happen again, I promise." He continued groveling as Nick remained silent. "I mowed the lawn, did the edges, and now I'm trimmin' up the trees and bushes for ya. And hey…if ya want me to find my own place, all you have to do is say the word and I'll…" 

"You're not movin' anywhere." Nick removed the hedge clippers from his cousin's hand.

Roy joked, "You're not like gonna chop me up and dispose of my body in a way only a CSI can, are ya?"

"No," Nick tossed the clippers on the ground, "I wanted to hug ya and say I love you and I always will, no matter what you do." He gave him a bear hug. "My love is unconditional, but that doesn't mean I'll always approve of what you're doing or that you get a free pass to do whatever the hell you want."

Relieved to know he was still welcome, the knot in Roy's stomach started to unwind.

"Let's sit by the pool and have a little talk." Nick led the way and took a seat at the patio table. "I'm sorry that I didn't let you explain things earlier. I was upset for several reasons and I honestly didn't get what you were sayin' about bein' in a relationship with Bobby, but hittin' the restroom stall scene whenever you like. I'm old fashioned," he smiled, poking fun at himself, "I was raised believin' guys either choose to get into a relationship, or they devote themselves to gettin' as much action as possible with no strings attached. I have a hard time wrappin' my head around doin' both simultaneously."

"I'm hardly the only guy with that type of arrangement."

"That doesn't mean it's good for you," Nick countered while leaning into the conversation. "I know this may sound hypocritical, but gettin' it on with virtual strangers didn't bring me anything but instant gratification. I know now that you can't fill the emptiness in your life with meaningless sex and expect to feel less alone."

"With all due respect, Cuz, I'm 20, not 35. You can't compare yourself to me now, think back to when you were my age."

"You know I've been thinkin' about that kind of question a lot actually, because I'm lookin' to have kids and I'll be havin' this kind of talk with them someday." Trying to find the right words, Nick said, "Keepin' it real I'm gonna say that I don't think it's wise to marry too young, but I can't imagine not gettin' intimate with someone if I was gonna wait until after 25 to get married."

"So what would you do?"

"I'd test the waters and fool around with people I was interested in, but I'd wait to have sex until I was in a relationship with someone I totally trusted and honestly loved, because sex with a personal connection is much better."

"Are you honestly sayin' sex can't be spectacular without love? Because I'd argue that until you got with Greg you were a repressed gay man havin' sex with girls, so of course it felt like somethin' was missin'." A former High School Debate Club President who was raised among politicians, Roy skillfully retorted, "The only guy you've slept with is Greg, so how can you tell if it's the love or the fact you're finally sleepin' with someone you're actually hardwired to enjoy?"

Thrown off balance by the rebuttal, Nick quickly changed the subject, "Did you ask to change your major to Hospitality Management because it's your passion, or because you liked workin' at a resort full of hot guys?"

"I'll honestly answer that question right after you honestly answer the one I asked you."

Nick cleared his throat before replying, "Speakin' as a Scientist, no, I can't technically prove that it's love or being with a guy, because both changes occurred simultaneously, but I can confidently say that being monogamous enhances the sexual experience over time because you get to know your partner and build on your knowledge of each other as you go along. A one night stand is what it is and then it's over."

"Okay." Roy nodded, "The hot guys and unlimited access to hotel rooms were a factor when I asked to switch my major."

"Do you have any idea how vicious casino management is around here? I don't think you do, because you had Lily shelterin' you from the greedy bastards."

"True."

"How about you stay put as a science major until you can pick a major with your brain instead of your pecker?"

"Okay," Roy laughed.

"Now help me understand what's goin' on with Bobby."

"Bobby's a great guy. I can relax and be my old self around him, and he makes a great BBQ."

"But…"

"But he works nights Monday through Friday plus overtime and he's not always up for stuff." Glancing at the pool, Roy quietly said, "But I really like hangin' out with him, especially at his place, because it feels like bein' back home…without the judgmental bullshit of course. You shouldn't be pissed at him, he takes really good care of me."

"Is there a chance he's fillin' the void from you bein' kicked out at home and in return for him takin' really good care of you, you're feelin' obligated to give him somethin' back…in the middle of my family room among other places?"

"It's not like that."

"But…" Nick patiently waited for the next blank to be filled.

"But then I started goin' out when he was workin'," the young man confessed, "and then last week at The Tangiers I went through a bartender, a couple of waiters, a dancer on tour with some D-list diva…and two guys from the cast of The Boys from Down Under. The content country boy kinda got carried away and fell back into his old habits."

"The same habits you tearfully told me you were tired of when you first got here."

"Yeah."

"Did you use when you were workin' at the Tangiers?"

After gulping the rising lump in his throat, Roy answered, "Twice, because it was shoved in my face and I was too caught up in the scene to think about what I was doin'."

Nick reminded himself to stay calm. "Here's an idea, how about you swear off the party scene, break things off with Bobby since you know he's not givin' you everything you need, and then focus on goin' to school and meetin' a guy you're compatible with who gives you that down home feel and sense of security while keepin' up with you and your schedule?"

"Hell, if I had that guy's phone number I'd call him, believe me, but I'm not sure he exists except in theory. You have no idea what it's like out there."

"No, but I feel confident saying you won't find your dream guy hangin' out in a bathroom stall at The Tangiers." Nick held out his palm. "If you want to stay here, I you need to hand over your fake ID and if you have more than one, I want all of 'em. And until these months roll by and you turn 21, you're not drinkin' in this house. I'm not even gonna keep beer in the kitchen fridge."

Silently appreciative of the tough love, Roy grabbed his wallet from his jeans. "I only have one fake ID."

"Do you need to go to rehab?"

"No, definitely not." Roy adamantly shook his head. "It's just a stupid club habit. I swear. You can test me anytime goin' forward."

"Okay." Nick stood up and opened his arms. "Now I'm gonna give ya a hug and let you get back to work, because you were doin' a great job. I'm happy that you feel like part of the family to the point where you jump at the chance to pitch in and take care of your home without me even askin' you."

* * *

"Do you know where the step ladder is?" Sara asked her husband who was about to nod off in bed reading a magazine. "UPS just delivered the curtains I ordered online last week and I want to hang them up." 

Tossing back the comforter, Gil said, "You and the UPS delivery guy must be best friends by now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Has a day gone by without a delivery?"

"I realized I had been neglecting my catalog shopping habit for over a year now, so I'm making up for lost time." Smirking, she appealed to her husband's baby obsession, "They refer to it as nesting in the pregnancy books."

"Exactly how are curtains, pens, organic shampoo, gourmet dog biscuits, and a robe helping you prepare the baby's nest?"

"Is this about the money?" she queried, knowing it wasn't.

"No, Sara, it's about you not having a life beyond Bruno, me, and these walls. I thought you were quitting the lab, not life." Frustrated and worried, he counseled, "Didn't your therapist suggest you find something productive to do with your time? She specifically said she didn't want you trapped in the house."

"Being a CSI, a hermit, and your significant other are the only things I've done in the last decade." Her vulnerability peering through, she quietly said, "I'm just doing what I know until I know what to do."

Realizing he had pushed enough for the day, Gil pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I miss you at the lab. I still get up from my desk to go look for you." Caressing her hair, he whispered, "Honey, I just never imagined us not working together."

* * *

"I don't want you to get in trouble at work." Sitting under a shade tree in her backyard, Cassie told her hero, "I wrote the letter so everyone would know how great you are, I never thought it would cause problems." 

"And you haven't caused me any problems. I'm not in trouble, they just don't want the publicity."

"What about you? Are you afraid of everyone finding out you're gay if you get an award at City Hall?"

"No," Nick answered, unsure if he believed himself. "I just don't want to cause you or Greg any extra grief. There's this group here in town that shows up protestin' all things gay. They even show up at funerals of gay people if they're bein' held in a church. One time it was the funeral of a military hero, a guy who did way more heroic things than me."

After a moment of silence, Cassie confidently said, "I don't know about Greg, but I'm tough. If a reporter or protestor says something bad at City Hall, I'll handle it just fine."

"I'm sure you would, honey." Taking her hand, Nick quietly said, "But do we_ really_ want to have the moment ruined by a bunch of people lookin' for a heated debated or a way to make the Mayor or Governor look bad?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"When I was pissed at my dad and brother, I told Greg I wanted to go public in Dallas and get married at this gay church there to make a political statement. He disagreed and said he didn't want our special day to become a politically charged public event. He was totally right, and that's how I feel about the hero essay. I don't want to see somethin' so special be ruined and tainted with bad memories. You and I have enough bad memories in our minds already, why go lookin' for more, right?"

Cassie nodded as she pondered.

"And you know what, I am a little afraid," Nick confessed, "but not about people findin' out I'm gay. I'm afraid to put myself or you in the spotlight, because it will make us targets. Like you, I can handle bein' a target of bad words. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words aren't gonna hurt me. What I'm worried about is some whackjob really comin' out of the woodwork and really hurtin' one of us. One time I was written up in this newsletter and a total stranger became obsessed with me. I don't want to scare you, but I know you don't want to be babied."

"That's right." She desperately tried not to cry.

"We've both been kidnapped and left for dead, and Greg's been beaten within an inch of his life already. I just don't think it's wise to put ourselves in a position of controversy. Greg hasn't even stopped looking over his shoulder from the last time his face was on TV. There are people who still blame him and hate him for killin' Demetrius James." Tearing up with her, he sadly shared, "I know that life shouldn't be this way and maybe I'm bein' paranoid because of what's happened to us in the past, but my gut is tellin' me life is great for all of us right now and we shouldn't take a chance. It's the same gut that told me you were alive and waitin' for me to find you, so I'm inclined to listen to it."

"Me too."

He pulled her close. "You won that contest fair and square, honey, so you shouldn't feel like you failed in any way. This is about us choosing not to be used as pawns in a political game that could end up hurtin' us. Instead we're gonna stay focused on what's really important – the bond we formed that night at the lake and every day since." Smiling as his eyes got glassy, Nick sweetly said, "And why would I want the Governor givin' me a medal when I can have you puttin' it around my neck? The Governor means nothin' to me, but you mean the world."

"You're right." She tried to toughen up. "We don't need a bunch of jerks ruining a good thing."

"There you go."

"Do you still want me to read the essay to you?"

"Absolutely."

"When?"

Feeling the timing was right, Nick began, "I know you missed a classmate's big party today. Dave also shared that you don't ever want to go on a boat or in the ocean."

"What does that have to do with my essay?" she asked, her emotions building once again.

"It makes me sad to think of you fearin' water for the rest of your life. You're missin' out on fun with friends today, and you'll be missin' out on a ton in the future – swimmin' in the waves, goin' to Catalina island on The Freyja, takin' a cruise. You used to be on the swim team, I know you'd love to boogie board in the ocean with me and Greg this summer." He glanced over and saw her desperately trying not to cry. "The lake isn't a bad place, Cass. The people who took you there were bad. The water isn't something to fear, it's meant to be enjoyed. Do you really want to let bad people keep you away from the water for the rest of your life? Bad people who already took way too much from you."

"No," she sniffled, "but I'm not ready."

"Sweetie, it's already been almost two years, and the longer you wait, the worse it's gonna get. Come on, don't give those guys another day of power over you."

"I can't."

He tried a different approach, "Remember when I told you a babysitter did somethin' real bad to me when I was little?"

She nodded as her tears flowed.

"I didn't tell you any details, but I'll tell you this one thing – it happened in my treehouse. I loved that treehouse, but I let what happened there ruin it for me." Picturing his backyard, he said, "I told my folks that I decided I was too big for it, and they thought I was just tryin' to act like my big brother, so they never suspected a thing. One day, about three years later, I got the nerve to climb up there again. I thought I would feel scared when I got to the top of the ladder and looked inside, but I didn't."

"How did you feel?" she asked, accepting the tissues being offered from Nick's shirt pocket.

"Angry at myself for stayin' away from my favorite place for so long. Yeah, one terrible thing happened to me there, but what about all the great times?" He smiled at the memory of his grandfather squeezing in the little doorway to hang out with him. "My grandpa and I had a ball up there. You woulda loved him, he told the best stories and we'd read Spiderman comics together." He wiped his tears.

"My family used to go on picnics at the lake."

"One of the best ways to honor their memory is to go on livin' and doin' the things they'd want you to do. They'd be sad if they knew you were missin' out on fun because of what those bad people did. They loved watchin' you swim, Cass. I know because your mom took a ton of pictures of you in the water. Right?"

"Yeah, she choked up, "she would watch me for hours."

"You once said we could accomplish anything together, well…I think we can face this together and handle it." Pulling her close, he whispered, "The medal and a copy of your essay is on the backseat of my truck in a big white envelope. How about we drive out to the lake, you read it to me there, and we take back somethin' those guys took from you? Do you think you can do that?"

"With you," Cassie threw her arms around him, "yes."

* * *

"No, I really don't mind," Greg assured Roy while pulling a 12-pack of beer from the fridge. "Nick and I are trying to drink less anyway, so not having booze in the house will make that easier." He snickered, "We'll decompress from work in more creative ways." 

The chime of the doorbell made both men jump.

Assuming it was the neighbor complaining, Greg turned to Roy, "Dude, did you have music blasting out of the patio speakers when you were working in the yard?"

"No, I had your MP3 player on."

They both hurried to the front door.

"It's only Mandy," Greg announced upon peering through the peephole. "I wonder why she's here." He opened the door. "Hey, Little Momma."

"CSI Sanders, just who I was looking for." Mandy smiled at her coworker and then waved at Roy. "Good to see you again too." She had fallen platonically in love with him at Greg's birthday party.

"Yeah, same here." Roy returned the wave. "Are ya gonna treat us to another heart-felt karaoke performance?" Her drunken solo at Greg's birthday party had left him in stitches.

"I'm never singing in public again, unless there's a gun to my head." Mandy shook her head at the brawny and beautiful young man before her. "Do you ever have a bad hair day, handsome?"

"Just about never," the appearance-conscious guy replied with a wink. "Okay, I'll let the two of you talk shop while I do laundry."

Mandy yelled after the stud, "I hope you have to wash the fitted t-shirt you're wearing and don't have a spare!"

"Thanks for remindin' me," Roy laughed as he tugged the shirt over his head, revealing his perfectly bronzed chest and six pack. "That's better."

"I'll say," Mandy giggled.

"Enough with the flirting," Greg shook his finger at his housemate. "She's with child, and you're a solid 6 on the Kinsey scale, it's a waste of time and energy for both of you."

"We'll always have this foyer, Roy!" Mandy fanned herself as the stud sauntered down the hall laughing.

"What brings you here at this hour, ya big hussy?" Greg informed his co-worker, "I'd be sleeping if we didn't have the night off."

"Same here." The weekend shift had asked to swap one Monday for a Saturday every quarter and this was the week. "I came here to tell you I caught you red handed, Sanders." She pulled the dusted envelope from her purse. "You left prints, genius."

"I knew you'd print it." Waving her to follow him, he laughed, "Which one of us geeks wouldn't use science to find out who sent a mystery envelope?"

"Wendy." Mandy tossed her purse and keys on the oak entry table. "She assumed it was Hodges and asked him out to dinner tonight to thank him." She batted her eyelashes. "She's at home with the phones turned off getting the maximum amount of beauty rest right."

Walking into the kitchen, Greg shared his theory, "She probably just wants to be rested so she can deal with him without ripping her hair out."

"Are you guys having a party?" Beer and liquor bottles were cluttering the counter.

"Already did," he fibbed, not wanting to explain the real reason for the display, "but don't feel left out, it was queers only. Nothing kinky though."

"Surrrre." Sighing, she plopped down on a stool, "Right now Henry is flying to Florida to spend some quality time with his mommy and break the news about the pregnancy to his grandmother."

"That sounds like fun…not." Greg realized he wasn't being a good host. "Want something to drink? I have juice, ice water, lowfat milk and…actually that's all I have that's decaf and non-alcoholic."

"Ice water would be great. It's hot out there." She slid off the stool. "But I need to use your powder room before I gulp a cold glass of liquid."

"Remember where it is?"

"Yep, be right back."

"Wait!" Greg cracked his joke when she turned around. "I just remembered that we're using the sink to sterilize all the sex toys from party night, so…" Failing to keep a straight face, he broke out laughing. "Is that disappointment I see in your eyes, Mandy Lynn?"

"Oh please, I doubt there's a toy made that I haven't dusted for prints." She resumed walking. "After working in Sin City, nothing shocks me."

While his friend hurried to the bathroom, Greg rushed to tidy up the area.

"Hey, Greg!" In need of more laundry soap, Roy walked into the kitchen holding an empty Tide bottle. "Do we have any more of this stuff?"

"Yeah, in the hall closet next to the bathroom."

"Cool."

As Roy zipped out of the room, Greg checked the time and wondered if Nick was at the lake yet. No matter how good or bad the plan went, he knew Nick would be coming home emotionally spent. "What now?" he asked when his housemate rushed back into the room.

"Dude, when I was grabbing the soap from the closet I could hear Mandy was upset in the bathroom and right when I was gonna ask if she was okay, I heard a thud. She's not answering."

"Are you serious?" Greg raced out of the room. "Mandy?!" When he reached the bathroom door, he knocked on it with his fist. "Mandy?! Are you okay?!"

"I told ya." Roy asked, "Do you think she's jokin' with us?"

"Not about something like this." Greg grabbed the skeleton key from atop the hall closet frame. "Mandy, I'm opening the door and if this is a prank, it's totally not funny." When the door opened, he saw his friend on the floor. "What the..." She was unresponsive on the floor and blood was pouring from her right temple. "Call 911!"

"I'm on it!"

Grabbing a hand towel, Greg rushed to her side. "Mandy, can you hear me?!" After checking her breathing, he applied pressure to the wound. "Mandy! It's Greg, can you hear me?!"

Roy returned with the cordless phone to his ear. "I've got 911. They want to know if she's breathing."

"Yes, and her pulse is strong and steady. I'm pretty sure it's just a deep gash, not a skull fracture, but we can't take any chances."

After relaying the information, Roy asked, "How pregnant is she?"

"Uh…" Trying to think clearly under pressure, Greg answered, "She got pregnant about three weeks before my birthday, which is May 7th and it's June…just tell them she conceived around the middle of April and let them do the math. And tell them she's LVPD!" Kicking into CSI mode, Greg frantically scanned the bathroom until he found the source of impact. "She hit her head on the corner of the towel rack. Do you remember anything she said when you overheard her? Was she cursing like she hit the towel rack and then…"

"No, she was kinda cryin' and breathin' hard and then I heard her say 'oh God' and then 'no, please, don't' right before the thud."

Suddenly panicked that someone was hiding behind the shower curtain, Greg waved Roy to take over applying pressure." Don't move her at all, especially her head or neck." After a deep breath, he jumped to his feet and yanked the curtain back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Roy yelled.

"I thought maybe someone was in here threatening her!" But the window was locked and thankfully the shower was empty. "Why would she say 'no, please don't?" Now that he was standing up and looking down at Mandy's body, he got his answer. "Look." He pointed to her khaki trousers. "There's blood on the crotch of her pants. I'd guess she realized she was bleeding when she went to the bathroom and started to panic, then she fainted and hit her head on the towel rack on the way down." He knelt down beside her and gently took over for Roy. "Go out front and wait for the cops and the ambulance."

"You got it."

When he saw Mandy's eyes fluttering open, Greg warned, "Stay still. You fainted and hit your head in the bathroom."

Scared and confused, she reached out. "I'm…I…"

"Shhh." Hiding his concern, Greg smiled and soothed, "It'll be okay."

* * *

"No," Cassie answered while staring at the lake from the safety of Nick's truck. "I'm not ready, but I'm gonna do it anyway." 

"Alright then." Nick opened his door, stepped out, and scanned the remote area while walking to open the passenger door. "I picked this spot, because it's real pretty and there's usually no one here." He took her hand as she jumped out. "I've come here a lot over the years, whenever I needed to clear my head or remind myself there's still some beauty left in this ugly world."

Nervously scanning the intimidating boulders, swaying trees, and tall grass, Cassie worked up the nerve to take even a baby step toward the water's edge.

"Want me to show you my favorite spot?" Nick sweetly asked. "It's an easy walk on those flat rocks over there."

After jumping from the sound of a hawk's overhead shrill, she nodded. "Just don't let go."

I'm still here!" Greg yelled when Mandy lost sight of him as she was loaded into the ambulance. Following protocol for a head trauma and a fall, the EMTs had her in a neck brace and secured to a back board. "I'm coming with you, don't worry." He knew all too well how scary it was to be bleeding, confused, and restrained in the back of an ambulance. "Try to stay calm."

"I got your keys!" Roy held them out and turned around to make sure he shut the front door.

"They said I could ride with her, so follow us and meet me there."

"Should I call Nick?"

"No, definitely not." In case Cassie was in the middle of an emotional breakthrough, he didn't want to interrupt.

* * *

You're doin' great, honey." Sitting across from her on a smooth, flat rock at the water's edge, he grabbed the wad of tissues he had stuffed in his pocket. 

"I'm not crying," Cassie stated, trying to prove she could face her fears without falling apart.

"I know, they're for me." Smiling he handed over the envelope with her essay. "Honey, you know I wear my heart on my sleeve, so what are the odds of me makin' it through you reading that without a tear?" Especially since, unbeknownst to her, he had a chance to preview it when his father showed him the copy she'd sent him.

"Good point." The smile that popped up on her face surprised her. "I'm smiling by the lake. I never thought that would happen again."

"When we come back the next time with the whole family, we'll stop and rent jet skis. That's a guaranteed great time. I'll take you for a wild ride and have you laughing like crazy. And sittin' on the back of a jet ski is somethin' Jenni can do really well even without all her leg strength back." He appealed to Cassie's competitive spirit, "We'll race her and Greg."

"You mean we'll leave them in our wake."

"Now we're talkin'!" He raised his palm for a high-five while laughing with her.

"Okay, I'm ready to read my essay." She slipped it out of the envelope. "Got your tissues, Tex?"

Holding up the Kleenex, he smiled, "Go for it."

With shaky hands, Cassie held the lined paper. "When my teacher, Ms. Martin, announced in class that the Governor was looking for the biggest hero in Nevada, I instantly knew who it was. His name is Nick Stokes and he works as a CSI for the Las Vegas Police Department and I first saw him when I opened my eyes in the back of an ambulance. While the EMTs gave me oxygen and warmed me up, Nick was holding my hand and telling me I was going to be okay. I didn't know who he was, but looking into his eyes, I believed him."

Closing his eyes, Nick thought back to the moment being described.

"You're probably wondering how I ended up in the ambulance, so I'll tell you, even though it's really hard for me to think about it."

* * *

"Think positive, Mandy." Holding her hand in the back of the ambulance, Greg tried to bolster his panicked friend's confidence. "Lots of women have spotting or bleeding during the first trimester and don't lose their babies." 

"What would you know about women's bodies," she cried, "you're gay!"

When Kevin, the uber-jock EMT, stopped watching Mandy's vitals to gape at him, Greg said, "Talk about a textbook awkward moment, huh?"

"Yeah," the EMT replied through a smile, "Wanna give me your phone number?"

Stunned by the question, Greg replied, "Dude, did you just ask for my digits while rendering aid?" He couldn't decide if he was more shocked about the guy's unprofessionalism or that he got hit on by a Greek god in an EMT uniform.

"Sorry." The EMT refocused on his patient. "That was tacky. I should have waited to ask him until we got to the hospital, but he seems like a really nice guy and I'm tired of dating self absorbed jerks who only want me for my perfect body."

Floored by the reply, Mandy snapped, "And calling your body perfect and thinking of your own love life while you're supposed to be taking care of me isn't self-absorbed?" She couldn't wait to break the jock's bubble. "Anyway, he's taken, and his partner is the greatest guy."

* * *

"If you think I believe Nick is a hero because of everything I just described about my rescue, you're wrong." Cassie glanced up and smiled when she saw her hero was already on his second tissue. "When I was in the hospital recovering, I thought he was a hero for saving my life, but when Nick came to visit, he explained that trying to solve the mystery of my family's disappearance and finding me was just him doing his job." 

"I love it, honey." Nick encouraged her with a nod.

"I'm just getting to the most important part." Cassie excitedly resumed, "In movies, when superheroes show up and rescue a person from a bad guy, they usually place the person somewhere safe and then disappear to fight crime somewhere else. The same thing is true about lots police officers and firefighters, they save someone and then get back into their cars or trucks to help the next person. Nick is my hero, because after he saved my life and caught the bad guys who killed my family, he did something even more amazing – he didn't disappear, he stayed in my life and saved me all over again."

Even though Nick knew that it was best for Cassie to be living with two experienced parents and a girl close to her age, sitting there listening to the love in her words and voice, he couldn't help but feel some regret for not adopting her himself.

"When I was alone and scared in the hospital, he held my hand and opened up his heart. He told me he understood just how I felt, because like me, he had been kidnapped and almost died before being found. Because we shared something terrible in common, he knew it was easiest for me to talk to him, so he told my social workers that he would come whenever they called. He went to my family's funeral and held me as I cried." Choking up from the painful memory, she paused.

"If it's too difficult to…"

"No." She took a breath and continued, determined to honor her savior, "When I was placed in foster care, Nick came by to visit and make sure it was a safe place for me to be. And when I didn't have a parent left to come to school on career day, Nick showed up with all his cool CSI stuff and made me feel special for the first time since losing my family and my home. That probably seems like enough good deeds for one hero, but Nick didn't stop there. He took me to the father-daughter Girl Scout dance, volunteered in my classroom once a month, and took me out for some fun, he even taught me how to ride a horse! (He's from Texas, so he's a cowboy and rides really well). And just when I thought he had done more than enough, he did something miraculous – he found a family to adopt me so I wouldn't have to spend six more years in foster care."

Nick's regret over not adopting her faded, as she spoke happily about her new home and family.

"The day I disappeared, Nick Stokes was a CSI. When he found me, he became a local hero, but when he stayed and cared about me when no one else did, he became MY hero. If there were more guys like Nick in the world, I have no doubt it would be a much better place. I think he should win your contest hands down, but if he doesn't, he'll always be my biggest hero, and knowing Nick, he'd say that's all that matters. Thank you for reading my essay. Sincerely, Cassie McBride."

With tears in her eyes, Cassie pulled the hero medal from the envelope and placed it over Nick's head. "Thank you for saving me ten times over. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie." Hugging her tight, he whispered, "The medal is cool, but my biggest reward is gettin' to see you doin' a little better every day."

"And now that we're family, we'll always be a part of each others lives." Smiling as she wiped the dampness from her face, she said, "It's kind of funny to think I'm your sister-in-law, because it's felt like you were my dad for a while."

"I've felt that way too," he replied, regret edging into his voice.

"When you and Greg become parents, your kid will have two fathers in its life, so I think I can have two father-figures in mine."

Watching Cassie stare at the lake, Nick's smile rivaled the afternoon sun's intensity. "I'm so proud of you for comin' out here and facin' your fear head on."

"It's beautiful here." Turning to face her hero, she said, "You were right, I was letting them win."

"It's hard not to when someone's terrified you. I almost quit my job a dozen times before I realized that would be letting my kidnapper have the last laugh."

"If you had quit, I wouldn't be here."

"I believe everything happens for a reason, even bad stuff."

"I don't know about that."

Watching a bird swoop down over the water, Nick said, "After my grandma died in a car wreck, my grandpa told me 'It's hard to make sense of the bad stuff, but only because we're not privy to the bigger picture. We're all here for divine reasons, never stop believin' that.' Now, my grandma was the ultimate homemaker, right down to winning blue ribbons for her pies, and I loved her to pieces, but at fifteen years old, I couldn't think of any divine accomplishments she had made. So I asked my grandpa what he thought her divine work was, because even though her pies were delicious, I couldn't imagine bakin' would be God's work. He gave me an answer that didn't make sense when I was a teenager, but later on in life, it did. He said, 'Your grandmother has touched so many lives, we will never know all the great things happening now and in the future because of her time on Earth'."

She wanted to say she understood, but since she didn't, she kept quiet.

"It was my grandpa's voice keepin' me in the game when I was ready to quit. Because I didn't quit, I was around to save you, so my grandpa had a hand in you bein' saved too. And who knows what you'll accomplish in this lifetime, Cassie, but when you do, you won't be doin' it alone, everyone who has made an impact in your life, like your mom, dad, and brother, will be right there with you." Grabbing a stone, he skipped it across the water. "One action sets off a bunch, just like that stone made all those ripples. You gotta keep things goin', you gotta keep living. Your family lives through you now."

"I like that. I like that idea a lot." Watching the water move, a contented smile found her lips. "It reminds me of The Lion King."

"The Circle of Life."

"Weren't you a little old for that movie when it came out?"

"Are your forgettin' I'm an uncle sixteen times over? Every time I've been home that movie has been on." Nick gave her a playful shove. "Hakuna Matata."

She decided to test him, "And what does that mean?"

"It's a problem-free philosophy." Grinning, Nick lunged for another stone to skip. "No worries, everything's okay here'."

"Yeah." Cassie reached for a stone and launched across the water. "Hakuna Matata."

* * *

"Nobody around here seems to care about my baby." Mandy looked to Greg who was standing in the corner of her ER room. "Can you please tell him to care about my baby or find someone who does?" 

The doctor continued focusing on the CT results he had just pulled up on the computer screen.

"He's a neurologist, not an OB." Realizing that she refused to absorb what the nurses had told her thus far, Greg gently tried to reason with her. "When we got here they explained that in the first trimester there is nothing they can do to stop a miscarriage if it's happening, so their first order of business is to make sure your head is okay, to rule out any bleeding under the skull that could be life threatening." Taking her hand, he squeezed it. "Okay?"

"No, Greg, it's not okay." Her eyes flooding, she pleaded with him, "I'm a scientist just like you, and I want a definitive answer. Am I or am I not losing my baby? That's all I want to know and then they can do whatever the hell they want to me."

"Okay, I'll go see if I can get someone else in here and I'll call your sister's cell phone again." He had already left two messages for her and two for Wendy, who he knew would probably be sleeping for at least another six hours.

"Thank you."

After patting Mandy's shoulder, Greg walked out of the room hoping to find someone who could give his friend good news. "Excuse me, nurse!" He hurried over to the petite brunette's side. "Hi, you helped Mandy get settled earlier. Well, we're still waiting for someone to check on the baby."

When Nurse Carly Adams saw the Neurologist exiting the patient's room, she informed the nervous father-to-be, "As soon as the ER doctor consults with Neuro she'll do the pelvic. She can't take a chance in moving or upsetting a patient with head trauma until the Neuro findings are conclusive. I know the wait is difficult, but it's for the best."

His rational mind telling him the answer was sound, Greg nodded, "Okay, thanks." When the nurse walked off he pulled out his cell to try Mandy's sister again, but struck out a third time. "Great, I didn't accomplish anything she wanted me to." Snapping the phone shut, he returned to the room with no news. "Sorry, they said you have to wait for the Neuro guy to tell the ER doc it's okay to move you. I know that answer sucks, but honestly, it is logical."

"I'm not really in a logical mood." Her frustration mounting, Mandy vented, "You're such a guy, Sanders."

"Sorry." Desperate to accomplish something, he reached for the TV remote. "Wanna watch something to take your mind off…"

"There isn't a show on TV that could possibly make me stop thinking of my baby."

"Right." He returned the remote to the bed. "Maybe I should drive over and wake up Wendy."

"And leave me alone?" she whimpered, "I can't be alone. My sister isn't answering her cell, Henry doesn't land for another two hours, and I don't want to deal with my mother."

"I don't want to leave, I just thought that it would be better if…"

"Finally!" Mandy exclaimed when she saw a nurse and another doctor. "Please tell me you're here to check on my baby."

"Yes, and to tell you that your CT was fine."

While the nurse proceeded to free the patient from a neck brace, the affable Indian doctor extended her hand to the anxious looking man in the room. "I'm Dr. Sonal Patel, not to be confused with two other Dr. Patels working here, also known as my father and brother."

"Greg Sanders, nice to meet you." He pointed to the bed. "I'm a friend of Mandy's." When he saw the doctor clock his wedding band, he said, "The baby's father has no idea this is going on, because the poor guy boarded a plane for Florida an hour ago, so I'm here filling in as the well meaning but unhelpful male in the room."

"She's all set for you, doctor," the nurse announced once the patient's feet were in the stirrups.

"I should go." Greg pointed to the door. "You don't want me here for this part, right, Mandy?"

"But don't go far, stay right outside."

"You got it." Grateful for the reprieve, he bolted and scanned the hall for Roy. "Hey!" He waved when he saw him at the coffee station.

"Any news?" Roy asked walking to meet him halfway.

"Her head's fine, but no news on the baby yet."

"Dude, I finally know exactly what I want to do with my life!"

"You wouldn't be the first person to have an epiphany in the hospital, I had several both times I was here, not that I ever did anything to follow through."

"Emergency medicine!" Roy excitedly explained, "See, I love science, but bein' trapped in a lab is way too monotonous for me."

"Tell me about it, I did it for years." Rubbing his temples, Greg yawned.

"But seein' those EMTs and then all the docs here, I got such a rush." The young man chuckled, "And a lot of the EMTs and doctors I've seen in this place are hot."

"I see you haven't totally lost sight of your physical priorities." Trying to take his mind off the crisis, Greg pointed to EMT Kevin who happened to be strolling down the hall with a Red Bull in hand. "He's gay and single."

"How do you know?"

Greg proudly declared, "He asked for my digits in the back of the ambulance. He said he was lookin' for a nice guy for a change of pace."

"Yeah," Roy laughed, "that's what every queer says right after gettin' dumped for someone younger, richer, and/or hotter."

"Mr. Sanders…"

When Greg turned around he knew from the somber look on the previously cheery doctor's face that the news wasn't good.

"Mandy is asking for you."

"Did she lose the baby?" He tensed after saying it out loud.

"Doctor/Patient confidentiality prohibits me from answering that question, so you'll have to ask her." She nodded while walking away. "Take care, Mr. Sanders."

Roy read between the lines, "She lost the baby."

"Yeah." Running his fingers through his hair, Greg worked up the nerve to return to his friend's side. "I don't know how long I'll be."

"Take your time, I'll be busy planning my future career."

"Nick will be psyched." His stomach churning, Greg walked across the hall and opened the door. "It's me." When he only got sobs in return he knew his suspicions were right. "I'm really sorry." Shutting the door behind him, he went to her side. "Can I get you anything? Do you need a blanket?" She was curled up under the sheets. "There's a blanket right over there." His nervous habit of overtalking kicked in. "When I was in the hospital, it was always freezing. The nice nurses would bring me blankets from the warmer, the nasty ones threw cold ones at me." He gently tucked the blanket around her. "How about some juice? When you spend quality time at the hospital you learn the nurses' station has a stash and you can get all the juice, applesauce, cookies, and crackers you want. I could go get…"

"Just stay here." She slipped her hand out from under the blanket and was relieved when he took it and sat on the edge of the bed. "It's hard to believe it's really happening, but then I can feel it happening and…"

Watching tears streaming out of his usually perky co-worker's eyes, a lump formed in Greg's throat. "I know this won't help you feel better right now, but about twenty percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. I could go into all the genetic stuff, but I'm sure you're not in the mood for me in DNA geek mode, so I'll just say that what's happening now doesn't mean you can't have kids in the future, it was most likely a genetic fluke that occurred at fertilization and won't happen next time. My mom had miscarriages before she had me, so I'm living proof of the theory."

"Yeah, I know, the doctor already gave me that speech, but thanks for trying to make me feel better." Mandy wiped her eyes with the blanket to make room for fresh tears. "Now I know why my sister said I shouldn't have told anyone until I was twelve weeks. She had a miscarriage at seven weeks."

Grasping for something optimistic, Greg whispered, "Maybe the purpose of this pregnancy was to bring you and Henry together, so you can live happily ever after and have future babies together." When Mandy went from crying to bawling her eyes out, he realized his philosophical outlook didn't help.

"What if the baby was the only reason Henry wanted to be with me and he breaks up with me when he finds out?!"

"No way," Greg assured her, "that guy has been pining after you for years. If anything, he'll probably panic that you were only with him because of the baby and think you're gonna dump him."

"But I love him."

"And he loves you, which is why everything will be okay."

"You think?"

"I know." Greg gently swiped her tear-soaked hair from her face. "You'll help each other through this and your love will grow twice as strong in the process."

* * *

Driving home from the lake with the wind from the open window blowing her hair, Cassie said, "I thought I was going to feel bad after this trip, but I feel so much better." 

"Good." Nick turned down the music in case she wanted to keep talking. "Sometimes all it takes to help somebody is a little push in the right direction."

* * *

When Sara saw a stack of casefiles on the dining room table, she felt an instinctive pull to read them. "No." She proceeded to the bedroom, where she discovered her husband was already sleep and lightly snoring. "I guess he decided we could talk later after all," she informed Bruno before returning to the living room to resume reading the novel she had started that morning. 

The casefiles catching her eye once more, she paused in front of them. _Just one._ She figured it would only renew her resolve to stay as far away from the lab and society as possible.

A snapshot of a vibrant young African American girl made her smile, until she searched further and discovered the child's body had been dumped in a canal. "Dammit!" She slammed the file shut and marched to her book, a frivolous tale of love and lust in the tropics. But try as she might to read about a young woman's adventures in paradise, she couldn't forget the little girl in the photo who had been put through hell.

Staring at the book in her hand, she thought of her husband who had been pulling doubles and walking through the door like a zombie. She thought of her friends, who had stopped leaving messages. But love them as she did, it wasn't them who made her feet walk toward the dining room and the casefile, it was the thought of the baby growing inside her, and how she would feel if her child had been killed and nobody cared.

Running her fingers over the stack of casefiles, her heart beat faster. Was it fear? Or was her pulse notching a sign of life? It seemed odd that the dead could make her feel more alive, but opening little Anika Wilson's file, she felt her doubts subside. Everyone had a purpose in life, some people wrote escapist beach books for the masses, and others, like her and the amazing man snoring from exhaustion in the next room, lived to give victims a voice.

Staring at the files, she knew escaping wasn't going to heal her. The only cure for what ailed her was to keep going, because even though she knew they would never win the war, they could make a difference, one case at a time.

* * *

ANs: 

Time heals – Nick, Greg and Cassie are doing much better, Sara is on her way, and Mandy just started hurting, but hopefully the overall message read as they'll all be okay.

Thanks for reading and for your comments on the last chapter : )

A big thank you to KJT for editing all 9,500 words in one shot so I could post the chappie! And to my hubby and Veronica10 for pre-reading.

Have a good weekend!

Maggs


	31. Chapter 31: Letting It Out

**The Day Before You**

**Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 31: Letting It Out **

When Jan Sanders answered the front door, she was surprised to find her son on the front porch. "Greg..."

"Hi, Mom." His emotions ignited upon seeing her.

"What are you doing here, honey?" She opened the door wide to let him inside. "Not that I mind seeing you twice in one day. Did you come here to wait for Nick to return from the lake with Cassie?"

"No."

Studying her boy's eyes, she knew something was troubling him. "Are you okay?"

Shaking his head, Greg stepped forward and embraced his mother. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She panicked. "What did you do, Gregory?"

Holding her tight, he choked out the apology he felt compelled to give, "I'm sorry for all the times I've given you crap and taken you for granted. I love you. Thank you for being the best, most supportive mom I…"

"Greg!" She pulled out the embrace. "You're scaring the hell out of me. Why are you suddenly saying this stuff?" Her overactive mind irrationally jumped to the worst conclusion. "Oh my God." She covered her gaping mouth. "Honey, are you sick? Are you…"

"No." Shaking his head, he wiped his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out."

Seeing his tears, she reached out and touched his damp face. "What has gotten into you?"

"Mandy stopped by for a visit and while she was over, she started miscarrying."

Just hearing the word made Jan tense up. "Sometimes women have spotting during the…"

"No, I went with her to the hospital and they confirmed it. Afterwards, I took her home, got her settled, and then stayed with her until her sister arrived."

"She was so excited about the pregnancy."

"Yeah." Seeing empathy for his friend in his mother's eyes, Greg softly said, "Experiencing that with her made me realize how hard it must have been for you having two miscarriages and two still births before you had me. That's why I had to stop by on the way home to hug you." When he saw her eyes well, his tears returned. "I totally understand why you've been so protective of me. I mean, I knew in theory why you were the way you were, but seeing how hard it is for a mom to lose a baby…I just wanted to come here and tell you I love you and I'm sorry for all the times I did stuff on purpose just to piss you off, like this morning when I flaunted my ring when you've been going out of your way to make the ceremony special." After a choppy breath he said, "I promise not to be a jackass anymore."

"You can try anyway." Reaching out, she hugged him tight. "You're growing up right before my eyes."

"It's about time, doncha think?" He chuckled with her as their tears subsided.

"Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something?"

"No, I'm too tired."

She checked her watch. "Nick and Cassie won't be back for at least another half hour, do you want to wait for them?"

He shook his head, "I think I'm just gonna head home and pass out."

* * *

Giving up on sleep, Hodges sat up in bed and reached for the remote. "TV Land don't fail me now." He clicked the power button hoping for something that would distract him from obsessing over his impending dinner date. "Yes!" Relieved to see Beaver Cleaver on screen, he fluffed his bed pillows. "The Beaver won't remind me of Wendy."

But as he settled in for the episode, the words 'Wendy' and 'beaver' prompted his primitive id to churn out a naughty image. "I should have seen that coming." Closing his eyes, he tried to purge the errant thought, but soon realized it couldn't be accomplished mentally. "But not in front of the kids." Blushing, he clicked off the TV so he could be alone with Wendy and his dirty mind.

* * *

"I cleaned up the bathroom," Roy announced when he saw Greg entering the kitchen like a zombie. "I know you said you'd do it, but I figured you'd be exhausted, and I didn't want Nick to come home and find blood all over the place and freak."

"Thanks." After tossing his keys, Greg grabbed an already open bottle of red wine from the counter and yanked out the cork.

Watching his housemate chug, Roy joked, "Way to be a role model in front of the impressionable 20 year old who's been ordered not to drink."

Greg wiped his lips and set the bottle on the counter. "That was only one glass worth of vino, so I'm not being an irresponsible drinker in front of a minor, I'm just� getting my daily dose of anti-oxidant flavonoids."

"Considering you dribbled red wine on your new shirt, I'd still argue that you're an irresponsible drinker."

"Ugh." Greg surveyed the damage. "Screw it, I'm too tired to get the spots out."

Roy held out his hand, "Give me the shirt and go to bed before you do any more damage to your clothes or my sobriety."

"Like I'm going to take my shirt off in front of you, Mr. Perfect Six Pack." With the half-empty bottle of wine in hand, Greg strolled away laughing. "I value my self-esteem way more than this shirt."

* * *

"What am I going to wear tonight?" Hodges lamented as he stood in the middle of his walk-in closet tugging on his prized pair of Pillsbury Dough Boy boxers. "If I dress too fancy she'll think I'm head over heels, but if I go too casual, she'll think I don't care enough about her to dress up."

After staring at his lackluster wardrobe for several minutes he decided to get dressed and go shopping instead of forcing sleep.

* * *

"You're still awake, G?" Shutting the door behind him, Nick walked over and sat on the bed.

"Yeah." He muted the TV, and tossed the remote. "I was waiting up for you."

"Roy told me what happened with Mandy."

"I hope you don't mind, but I really don't want to talk about it, because if I rehash everything, I'll never sleep."

"No problem."

Feeling needy, Greg patted the comforter. "Come to bed."

"I need to hit the john first." Nick dropped a kiss on his partner's cheek before standing. "And I have to brush away my dragon breath. Cassie and I stopped for In and Out on the way back."

Shifting focus to the positive, Greg said, "My mom said Cassie sounded great when she called home from the lake. You must be psyched."

"Yeah." Standing in the bathroom doorway, Nick gushed, "I was so proud of her for facing her fear. She even said she'll be up for jet skiin' next time." Walking to the sink he yelled over his shoulder, "Me and her against you and Jenni! Losers buy the winners ice cream."

"Jocks versus geeks, how original." Greg fluffed his bed pillow and slid horizontal. "Jenni and I will have to challenge you guys to a double or nothing game of chess on shore."

"Is Jenni good at chess?" Nick asked before brushing.

"Yeah, she beat me the other day when I was over there tutoring Tawny in math. I told her I'd help her start a Chess Club at her new school since they don't have one."

"How do you know they'll let you?"

"Because that's how private schools work." Greg waited for the toilet to stop flushing before finishing his thought. "Families with big bank accounts get to do anything they want because the School Board knows where their bread is buttered."

"I'm still not thrilled about Cassie goin' to Butterfield."

"Catherine raves about the place."

"No offense to Cath, but Lindsay's a little wild in my opinion. Rich kids at private schools have expendable cash, which means they can buy their way into trouble."

"The rich kids who get in trouble at school are the ones whose parents are too busy or too self-absorbed to care what their kids are doing. Think of the Butterfield kid you found in the dryer, his parents were away on a ski trip and had no idea what their kids were doing. Jan and Dave aren't those kind of parents, trust me, they're in your business 24/7."

"I hope you're right."

Watching his man stroll out of the bathroom clad only in grey boxer briefs, Greg asked, "Are you set on our kids going to public school?"

"I didn't even know we had kids." Sliding under the covers, Nick continued joking, "Are they boys or girls?"

"One of each."

"Names?"

"Garrett and Kiersten," Greg answered on the fly.

"After my grandfather and your grandmother?"

"We thought it was a nice tribute."

"Careful, G." Nick burst into a sunny smile. "You're gonna throw me into Daddy overdrive if you keep talkin' like this."

"I don't know why I'm talking like this. After watching Mandy suffer, kids are the last thing I should want, but for some odd reason, it kind of made me want them." The statement set off a wave of panic. "Actually, the only thing I absolutely know that I want right now is sleep."

"Think you'll be able to nod off?"

Greg snuggled close. "The odds are much better now with you here."

"Is there somethin' I can do to help increase those odds?" Grazing his lips over his partner's Nick murmured, "I'll do anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Yep."

"In that case, I need supplies." After yanking off his shirt, Greg stretched to open his nightstand drawer. "Here." He handed his lover a bottle of almond-scented massage oil. "My shoulders and neck are really tight."

"Tease."

"I didn't tease you, your dirty mind leapt to the wrong conclusion."

"Turn off your lamp, Romeo." With a flick of the thumb, the bottle top was open. "Now roll over and brace yourself for the best massage you've ever had."

"You're gonna warm that stuff up, right?"

Nick chuckled at the familiar question. "Yeah, this time I will." While exchanging grins with his lover, he warmed the liquid between his hands. "Because it wouldn't be fair to make you jump when I know you're stressed."

"A massage from a hot jock while the Discovery Channel is on mute in the background." Greg sweetly laughed, "Talk about a geek dream come true."

Gliding his slick, warm hands over his spouse's knotted muscles, Nick glanced over at the TV. "Some hot and heavy animal romance is on the horizon."

"Honestly, I'm beat and not in the mood to…"

"On the Discovery Channel, dork."

"Oh!" Greg laughed into his pillow.

"Am I hittin' the spot?" the masseuse queried after a few minutes.

"Yeah." A contented moan followed the statement. "Mmm, I don't know about you, Cletus, but I'm feeling the marital bliss."

"Me too." Straddling his partner's thighs, Nick upped the intensity of rub. "I love knowin' I have someone to come home to for the rest of my life."

"Even though I'm too tense to answer your questions sometimes and trick you into massaging my shoulders?"

"Especially then." Nick leaned in and spoke in a sexy whisper, "I'm a traditional guy, so the idea of my spouse sittin' in bed waitin' for me to give him what he needs appeals to me."

Greg shivered from the delicious sensation of warm lips gliding down his neck. "I love when you do that."

"And I love you, baby." Realizing he was getting carried away when his lover had stated he wasn't in the mood, Nick ended the massage and returned to his side of the bed. "Shoulders feelin' better?"

"Definitely." Rolling onto his back, the formerly anxious man pointed to the bulge in his boxers. "But thanks to all your kissing and grinding, I have a new problem area."

"Sorry."

"I told you I was exhausted and not in the mood."

"Wow, I didn't expect our first 'not tonight, I have a headache' moment to happen this soon."

"It's not personal, I'm just overwhelmed from the day I've had and…"

"I was kiddin', honey." Nick pressed a kiss to his lover's lips. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah." Reaching forward, Greg slipped his fingers through his randy masseuse's hair, gently tugging on it. "Since you enjoy feeling needed and I'm too tired to move, shower, or change the sheets, I have the perfect job for you." In case the statement was too vague, he gave him a push in the right direction.

The unexpected dominance titillating him, Nick dove head first into the assignment.

Stunned that his bold edict had been met without hesitation, Greg snickered, "I guess we just figured out who wears the pants in this marriage."

* * *

"Sara?" Gil padded over to the dining room table. "Are you reading my casefiles?" Thrilled his plan had worked, he struggled not to smile.

"Uh." Caught with papers sprawled out on the table, she couldn't deny it. "Sorry, I was walking by and curiosity got the best of me. I decided to take a peek to get the urge out of my system and then I saw Anika Watson's photo and when I read what happened to her, I wanted to help. I wanted to help her and you, so after I was done with her file, I kept reading." Glancing away she realized it was dark. "What time is it?"

"8:15."

"Really?"

"What time did you start reviewing files?"

"Around two."

Gil let his smile unfurl.

"What?"

"You're back." Brushing her cheek with the back of his hand, he breathed easy for the first time in weeks. "You're glowing."

"Haven't you heard? I'm pregnant."

"How did that happen?"

"I'll refresh your memory…"

"_I'm not ready yet," Gil confessed, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. _

_With her husband poised on top of her for sex, Sara couldn't believe he was balking. "You're not ready to be a father?" _

"_No, I'm literally not ready." He glanced at his crotch. "I think maybe the pressure of knowing this could be productive sex has rendered me…" _

"_Limp." _

"_I'd prefer not ready, thank you." _

"_The kit's instruction manual said not to make conception seem like work, because it can hinder performance." _

"_It was obviously written by a man who was in this same situation at one time." Gil kept shifting and waiting for his body to ignite. _

"_Should I put on some cable soft core porn?" _

"_I'd rather not impregnate my wife while watching two other women get it on." _

"_Aww." Sara patted his cheek. "That's really sweet. Good boy." _

"_You treating me like a nice doggie isn't doing much for my libido, honey." _

"_Want me to talk dirty?" _

_Gil pondered the offer. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." _

"_Give it to me, baby," Sara moaned like a porn star, "I want you so bad. Mmmm, yeah, you're making me so hot." When she realized her husband was shaking with laughter, she stopped the imitation. "That bad, huh?" _

"_Worse." _

"_I'll get the remote." _

_As Sara lunged toward the nightstand, Gil crashed onto the covers. "I'm sure once I relax I'll be fine." Watching the TV channels fly by, he tried not to think about his problem. "Wait!" _

"_What?" _

"_Go back to 47." _

"_The Discovery Channel?" _

"_It was a special on beetles that I've seen once before." _

_Sara did as requested, hoping a little Bug TV would chill out her Entomologist mate. _

_Five minutes into the program, Gil realized his plumbing was good to go. "Honey…" _

"_Hmm?" The show was so boring she had nodded off. _

"_Ready." _

"_I couldn't get a rise out of you, but watching beetles on TV gave you a hard on?" _

_He used deflection to avoid saying yes, "Do you want my sperm or not?"_

* * *

"All this to woo a guy into sharing his DNA?" Surveying the perfectly appointed dining room table, Jean continued teasing her partner, "Yellow roses because Nick's from Texas?"

Carrie gripped her wavy chestnut hair. "You think it's too much?"

Jean lifted up a salad plate and teased her soulmate, "Why don't you break out the good china on Monday nights for me anymore?"

"Since my mother isn't alive to meet the future father of her grandchildren, I wanted her to be here in spirit through her china."

The free-spirited dance studio owner with fire-red mussed hair warned her perfectly coifed perfectionist partner, "I just don't want Nick to get freaked out by your tightly wound persona."

"Are you kidding? Nick's my tightly wound twin," Carrie laughed until she saw the time. "Shoot! It's already 8:00 and I haven't re-ironed my blouse or burned the perfect country music CD yet! 9:45 will be here before we know it."

"The 'perfect country music CD', that's an oxymoron."

"Can you not diss country music for just _one_ night, pleeeeease?" The fan of showtunes and country songs said, "I'm used to you ragging on my song choices, but Nick is a first-time guest."

"Why couldn't you find a superhero with low cholesterol levels who liked Ani Defranco?"

"Because that low-cholesterol superhero would be an opinionated lesbian and we're already stocked up on those."

"Good point." Watching her partner rush through the house, Jean said, "Relax already."

* * *

Dropping onto the couch in his boxers, Hodges yawned uncontrollably. "A twenty minute power nap and I'll be as good as new." Forcing his eyes to stay open for a few more seconds, he set his wristwatch alarm to wake him at 8:30.

"Damn, is it really nine?" Nick cursed his buzzing alarm clock for pulling him out of a deep sleep. "This sucks." He silenced the obnoxious clock by pounding his fist on the snooze bar. "I feel like I got six minutes, not six hours."

Stretching his arms to the ceiling, Greg cheerily announced, "I feel great. That deluxe massage and hummer spa package made me sleep like a rock."

In between lion-sized yawns, Nick grumbled, "Unfortunately for me, you passed out before returning the favor, and I wasn't in the mood to take matters in to my own hands on what's technically still my honeymoon."

"Aww, I don't think you're cranky because you're tired, I think you woke up with a nasty case of DSB."

* * *

_I can't believe he's standing me up!_ Wendy scanned the bar of her favorite sushi restaurant for a tenth time. _Forty minutes is __**not**__ fashionably late, not without a call. _After signaling the bartender to refill her wine glass, she checked her voicemail once more.

**You have no messages**

_Unbelievable! _Lifting her recently freshened glass, she shook her head. _David Hodges, the guy who has been flirting with me for months, is blowing __**me **__off! _Her irritation growing, she punched his number into her cell. _I'm going to tell him exactly how I feel. _But she snapped the phone shut before the call connected. _No, because then it will look like I'm upset, and I'm not. I'm pissed off for wasting my valuable time, but I'm not upset he's not here. _Tossing a tip on the bar, she muttered, "This is what I get for being nice to the jerk."

While grabbing her purse she saw a special report on the bar's TV. A five-car pile up had caused a traffic snare just off the strip. _What if he was an accident and I've been here cursing him out? An accident would explain why how he could be so excited about tonight but not show and not return my calls. _Clutching her purse, she hurried for the exit, determined to solve the mystery of her missing dinner date.

* * *

"I'm back!" Gil reached down to pat Bruno with his free hand while holding his bag of Chinese food out of the dog's reach.

"Mmm! I can smell the garlic from here." Sara bolted from the table.

When he was relieved of the food without even a peck on the cheek, Gil huffed, "You're welcome."

Sara already had her face in a container of Tofu and Veggie Fried Rice. "Sorry, the embryo is starving."

* * *

"Quick get the hors d'oerves!" Jean shouted to her fretting partner, who was re-arranging the floral centerpiece yet again. "Your sperm-filled superhero is parking his big manly truck!"

Hurrying over, Carrie warned, "Remember, he has no idea he's at the top of our list."

"**Our** list? How can he be at the top of our list when I haven't even met him?"

"Okay, okay, he's at the top of **my**list, but I'm sure he'll be at the top of your list too after tonight."

"Just promise me you won't bring out the binder."

"Even if it's going well?"

"**Especially **if it's going well." Noting her lover's shaky hands, Jean whispered, "I know you believe the right guy will appreciate your tenacity and attention to detail, but I honestly don't think there's a man on the planet who won't freak out when presented with a binder of 237 questions to answer about himself and his parenting philosophy."

"I know, that's why I put the questions on a CD instead. Won't that be a lot less intimidating than handing over the binder?" When she saw her partner's incredulous reaction, Carrie said, "You're right, I'm� a freak. How do you put up with me?"

Caressing her partner's cheek, Jean sweetly replied, "Heavy drinking really helps."

"Very funny."

"Doorbell!"

After smoothing her hands over her perfectly pressed Ann Taylor white linen blouse and khaki pencil skirt Carrie twisted open the doorknob. "Hey, guys, it's great seeing you again."

"Same here." Nick smiled at the plucky ADA who had helped him keep Tawny out of jail and his brother in deep shit. "Thanks for the invite."

"Don't just stand there, come on in!" Jean motioned for the guys to step inside. "I promise we don't bite, not guys anyway." Pushing up the billowy sleeves of her colorful smock top, she held out her hand, "I'm Carrie's soulmate and polar opposite, Jean Cromwell."

"Nick Stokes." He returned the handshake. "Nice to meet you. This is my partner, Greg Sanders, he's a CSI with me over at LVPD."

Jean extended her hand to the second guest. "I love your shirt, Greg." The colorful paisley button down had immediately caught her eye.

"Thanks, I was thinking the same thing about yours."

Nick shared a laugh over him and the ADA both wearing thoroughly pressed plain white shirts. "That's a real nice shade of bright white, Carrie."

"I was just thinking the same thing about your shirt, Nick."

While appreciating Jean's funky sense of style, Greg handed her the bottle of wine he was holding. "I don't know much about grapes, so if this is swill, feel free to spit it out."

"She's the Napa Valley girl, not me." Jean handed over the Cabernet to her partner.

"Are you kidding me!" Carrie gaped at the 2003 Screaming Eagle Cab in her hands. "I can't believe you brought this to a casual dinner." Suddenly suspicious of her guests' intentions, she warily asked, "You know we're not going to sleep with you, right?"

"What makes you think we want to sleep with you?"

"A guy doesn't usually bring a woman a $1600 bottle of wine unless…"

"1600 dollars!" Greg shrieked. "I had no idea it cost that much!"

Nick's frustration flared, "G, I thought we agreed you were gonna start lookin' at your damn credit card receipts before signin' 'em?"

"I didn't buy the bottle, dude. I snatched it from my parents' wine cabinet this morning and stuffed it in my backpack." Greg reclaimed the Cabernet. "Sorry, but if I don't take this back my mom will kick my ass."

"Real smooth, G." Nick smiled at the women, "And he wonders why he always struck out with the ladies."

* * *

"Open up, Hodges!" Wendy pounded on the front door of her missing date's apartment. "Your car is in your space, so I know you're in there!"

Startled from slumber and disoriented, Hodges jumped to his feet and stumbled toward the door. "What do you want!" To protect himself, he grabbed his plastic replica of a Klingon qutluch from the living room wall. "Who's there!"

"It's your conscience, Davey! You probably don't recognize me because we were separated at birth!"

His heart pounding in his chest, he worked up the nerve to peer through the peephole. "Wendy? I thought we were meeting at the restaurant."

"Me too, jerk."

Glancing up at his Howdy Doody cuckoo clock, he realized he should have been on his date an hour ago. "I overslept!"

"You overslept?" she huffed. "I offer to take you to dinner and you can't even be bothered to set your alarm clock."

"But I did set my alarm!" He checked his watch. "For 8:30 am, not pm."

"I'm out of here." She marched off hoping to see an available cab on the street.

"Wait!" Hodges threw open the door with plans to beg for forgiveness. "You have to give me a chance to explain!"

"No, I don't! And if you think…" Seeing her co-worker clad only in Pillsbury Dough Boy boxer shorts snapped Wendy out of anger and into hysterics.

"Why are you…" When a passerby walking a Dalmatian yelled 'nice underwear, Dough Boy' he realized his boxers were responsible for his date's laughter. "Do we have to talk outside?"

* * *

"Can I come in?" Roy asked as Bobby remained silent. "Please, I came all the way over here to talk."

"What's there to talk about?" He wanted to spare himself any further humiliation. "Everything I needed to know I learned from Nick. You're a restless 20 year old hangin' out in stalls at the Tangiers while telling me we're exclusive."

"I thought it would be more awkward for you if I said you didn't know, so I told him we had an arrangement and you were cool with it."

"I don't want Nick to think I'm content with time sharin' his cousin's body. He looked at me like I was an old pervert and that's kinda how I feel after hearin' what you said." When he saw his neighbors strolling down the path to get to their townhome, Bobby straightened up and pretended he wasn't having a lover's quarrel. "Thanks for dropping off those files, Roy. You saved me a trip to the lab." He waved to Penny and Marty Glarksen. "How you doin' tonight?"

Watching the act Bobby was putting on for his neighbors' benefit, Roy's frustration surged. "The problem isn't your age." He pushed his way into the townhouse.

"Keep your voice down." Bobby shut the door and hurried to make sure the windows were closed.

"Don't blame me for lookin' elsewhere, man. I'm not partyin' across town because I don't want to be seen with you, I'm doin' it because **you** don't want to be seen with **me** or any other guy who might make you look queer."

"I told you I wasn't out when we met and you said it wasn't a problem."

"I didn't think it would be, but it is. I didn't realize how much until I was out havin' fun in public with guys who didn't mind bein' seen with me." Pacing the living room, Roy said, "I got kicked out of my home and family because of who I am. I lost everything because I refused to be ashamed of myself and live a lie, but here you are askin' me to do just that. I don't want to be the damn delivery boy or your co-worker droppin' off papers." He launched an ultimatum. "If you want to be with me in private, you need to be with me in public in too."

"Why?"

"Why?" Miffed by the question, Roy shouted, "Because I want to feel like a boyfriend, not a trick! I want to have someone to take places when I get invited and I want to be taken places other than bed. I want to have a date for Nick and Greg's wedding." When he saw the conflict in his lover's eyes, he asked, "What exactly are you hidin' from anyway? You already lost your wife and kid back in Oklahoma. You're a financially independent man, you don't have to worry about supportin' yourself when your folks kick you out without a dime. Shit, with Nick and Greg out at work now, you won't even have to be the token gay."

"I can't."

"Then this is goodbye."

"I don't want it to be."

"At least the guys who were usin' me in San Francisco paid me." His baggage weighing heavy on his mind, Roy's voice crackled with emotion, "You're askin' me to come here and service you for free."

"That's not what was goin'� on here and you know it." Fear and desire tugging him in opposite directions, the conflicted man fell silent.

"You're right, I'm sorry." His eyes welling, Roy glanced away. "I don't want to hurt you, Bobby, but you're hurtin' me, not intentionally, but it still hurts. I spent years hidin' my secret while listenin' to my family bash queers at the dinner table. I was so terrified of being found out, I joined in and told gay jokes right along with 'em. Then when my folks found out what I was hidin', I watched them livin' in fear that someone at church would discover their supposedly All-American jock son was gay. Because I needed a roof over my head until I graduated high school, I lied and told them I asked God for forgiveness and would never touch another guy. When I moved to San Francisco I thought I'd finally be able to stop lyin', but ended up doin' things for cash that I didn't want my friends to know about, so I had a double life again."

"What do you need me to do?" Bobby asked, anxious about every possible answer.

"I need you to prove Nick wrong. I want you to prove to him that I'm more than just a guy you screw. Hell, prove it to me." Roy grabbed Bobby's truck keys. "We don't need to march in a parade arm in arm, just take me to dinner." He placed the key ring in his lover's palm. "Take me somewhere nice with great food, and if we bump into someone you know, introduce me as your boyfriend, not a ballistics grad student askin' for your help on a research paper. What's the worst that can happen?"

Looking around his lonely home and the photos of the daughter being raised by his ex-wife and her new husband, Bobby grasped the brass ring. "How does seafood sound?"

* * *

"This salmon is delicious," Greg commented after the third bite. "Do you give out your recipes, Jean?"

"Normally, no," smirking she lifted her wine glass, "but I'm the kind of girl who takes pity on a guy� who reclaims�his hostess gift for fear of his mommy kicking his ass, so I'll make an exception."

Nick patted his partner on the back, "Wow, you really are doin' much better with the ladies on this date than the last one, you scored a secret recipe." Over appetizers they had entertained the women with the story of their date from hell and the other events that led to them finally getting together.

Jean chuckled, "Not to take away from your big conquest, Greg, but all I was going to give you was the link for the website where I snagged the recipe."

"Hey, that's still more than I'm used to getting after having dinner with a woman."

Fulfilling her obligation to not directly bash country music, Jean said, "If it will make you feel better, it would be my pleasure to throw in this CD of country music we're listening to."

"No, that's okay." Greg told the women, "Since I fell in love with a cowboy, I get to hear way too much of this stuff already." Feeling comfortable with the ladies, he joked, "I was actually looking forward to hearing some Melissa Etheridge or Ani Defranco tonight."

"Ha!" Jean pointed at Carrie. "Blame her for picking this cra…stuff."

* * *

"Can we listen to the Monkees?" Wendy asked, plucking the CD off the shelf.

"Really?" Hodges couldn't believe the request. "What's your favorite song?"

"Daydream Believer."

He couldn't stop his eye roll. "I should have guessed."

"You?"

"A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." Loading the CD, he explained why. "I love the psychedelic dance beat."

"Of course you do, Austin Powers."

After popping open buttons on his shirt, Hodges stroked his chest hair. "Yeah, baby!"

Watching her co-worker strike various Austin Powers poses, Wendy's smile flourished. "Most guys would have opted for conservative behavior after getting busted in Dough Boy shorts, but not you."

Dancing around her, he continued delivering movie lines, "Do I make you horny, baby?" When she spit the wine she had been sipping, he let Austin Powers scold her, "Behave, Ms. Shagwell!"

"All that's missing is a pair of bad fake teeth."

"Ooh!"

Watching her date dash out of the room, presumably to retrieve a set of ugly teeth, she sweetly sighed into her wine, "Who needs dinner in a fancy restaurant anyway?"

* * *

"Thanks for takin' me out tonight." Sitting at an intimate corner table for two in Cartwright's Steakhouse, Roy reached under the table cloth and patted his date's knee. "I appreciate you steppin' outside your comfort zone for me."

"I did it for me too." Setting down the wine menu, Bobby quietly said, "Ever since Nick came out, I've been thinkin' about the way I live and tryin' to get the nerve up to follow in his footsteps. I guess it's true what they say – people don't change until the fear of stayin' the same becomes greater than the fear of changin'. I thought about goin' back to the life I had the day before I met you, and that scared me more than comin' out. My life was a monotonous bore until you showed up, and I'm not just talkin' about my sex life."

"But the sex is great, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Bobby couldn't imagine a more ridiculously obvious question.

"I just wanted to be sure it wasn't just me thinkin' so." When he saw his date gaping at him, the jock chuckled, "I know geeks think they have exclusive rights to insecurity, but jocks need validation too."

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation," Gary, the silver-haired career waiter apologized, "but I saw you put down the wine list and thought I should check to see if you made a selection."

"We'll go with the red you recommended, thanks."

"Excellent choice." The waiter turned to the younger man at the table. "Since we card everyone under 30, I'll need to see your ID."

"Oh, um…sure." Roy padded his pockets pretending to look for his wallet. "This is really embarrassing, but I left my wallet at home, so I'll just have an iced tea, thanks."

"Very well." Thrilled that he had busted the twink, Gary couldn't contain his glee. "Do you still want the bottle, sir, or just a glass?"

"A glass, thanks." When the waiter strolled away grinning, Bobby gripped his forehead, "Did you see the way he looked at me?"

"Sorry, I forgot to tell ya that Nick asked me to hand over my fake ID."

"Gary the waiter thinks I'm robbin' the cradle."

"Yeah, and he's jealous as hell." Laughing, Roy opened his menu. "Ooh, check it out, my Sugar Daddy took me someplace pricey."

Bobby hid his flushing face behind his menu.

"Desserts sound yummy, but it might be redundant to order sweets since you'll be havin' a twinkie later."

"You're killin' me." Half-laughing, half-cringing, Bobby sank lower in his chair.

"Uh oh."

"What?" Bobby braced for another tweak.

"That coroner guy, what's his name, David Phelps? Phillips? Nicky calls him Super Dave. He's here with his wife and they're headin' this way. If it's too much for you to say somethin' about us, you don't have to."

Not falling for the ruse, Bobby continued perusing the menu. "I think I'll have the Prime Rib."

"I wasn't kidding." Roy waved at Mr. and Mrs. Super Dave. "Howdy." Remembering his manners in front of a lady, he stood. "Good to see you both again."

"Hi." David smiled at Nick's relative and desperately tried to remember his name.

"Roy Stokes." He extended his hand to the lady.

His heart pounding in his chest, Bobby took a couple of deep breaths while everyone else chatted. "Excuse my bad manners," he announced while lowering the menu. "I um…" He stood, praying he wouldn't keel over from the stress. "I guess I was so absorbed in the menu and didn't hear you come over."

"You guys know Bobby of course." Feeling sorry for his panicked date, Roy decided to spare him from admitting the truth, "I'm buyin' him dinner in exchange for help with a school paper I'm doin' on ballistics."

"Yeah," Bobby nodded like a madman as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "Actually no, he's not."

"He's not what?" Mrs. Phillips queried, wondering why her husband's coworker was growing paler by the second.

"He's not buyin' me dinner," Bobby sucked in another dose of oxygen. "I'm buyin' him dinner."

"Okay." Believing the men must have been battling over the check when he and his wife stopped by, David gave a polite smile. "Well, we should be going…"

"Roy and I are seein' each other," Bobby finally blurted. "Yep, that's right, I'm gay, and he's my boyfriend. Anyway, enough about me, you two should go enjoy your dinner, the prime rib is wonderful here."

"We're actually done eating," David replied while trying not to stare. "We were on our way out." Fearing his innocent remark would be seen as a quip, he overtalked, "On our way out of the restaurant…because we need to get home…to our baby. It's our wedding anniversary, and my mother-in-law is babysitting so we could have a romantic dinner."

"Congratulations," Roy cheered. "If you weren't done with dinner, I'd buy you a bottle of champagne, or Bobby would anyway, 'cause I'm not 21 yet."

"But he will be soon!" Bobby felt compelled to reply. "Well y'all have a good night." Shaking like a leaf, he returned to his seat and lifted the menu to hide once more. "Good seein' you both."

"Is he okay?" Mrs. Phillips asked when she saw Bobby's menu shaking.

"He's gonna be just fine," Roy assured the stunned couple. "Happy Anniversary. Enjoy the rest of your romantic evening together."

"You too," David gulped, unsure if his response would somehow be offensive. "Uh…"

"We will, thanks. Night."

Walking away, the stunned wife said to her husband, "Bobby and Nick are gay, but Henry's straight. Clearly my gaydar needs a complete overhaul."

_Mine too!_ David thought, still in shock. "Bobby is divorced and has a daughter in Oklahoma. I think that's what made me assume he was straight. Well, that and his gun collection."

"How old is Bobby?" she asked while walking out the front door of the restaurant.

"Uh…37 I think, maybe 36."

"Hmm." She snickered, "I guess Grissom isn't the only one who likes them young."

Never one to idly gossip, he shook his head. "We shouldn't be talking like this." He dug in his pocket for the valet ticket and handed it over to the attendant.

"Do you think Bobby is the top or the bottom?"

"Honey!" Surprised his sweet wife even knew the terms, he said, "How would you like it if my coworkers stood around wondering how we had…" even though no one was around, he whispered the last word, "…sex?"

* * *

"Personally, my preference is to top from the bottom," Greg joked, cracking up the ladies. "Unless Nick pulls rank on me at work, then I like to come home and show him who's boss." When he saw his partner returning from the bathroom, he lied, "We're playing truth or dare."

"Sorry, I'm� not drunk enough for that game." Nick returned to his spot on the couch and slipped his arm around Greg's shoulders.

"My turn," Carrie stated, ready to use the game ruse to gain some information. "Nick, do you want to have kids?"

"Yeah, but my doctor told me my lack of a uterus will make it difficult."

Having one too many glasses of wine, Jean retorted, "You could always use Carrie's."

Refilling his wine glass, Greg said, "We already have a surrogate lined up actually."

"You do?" Carrie's heart skipped a beat.

"Well, kinda," Nick corrected. "She's agreed, but it's still too early to say it's gonna work out. You've met her actually, it's Tawny Cooper."

"The stripper that slept with your brother for cash?" Carrie blurted.

"Yeah," Greg chuckled, "we like to keep things in the family. All joking aside, my mom is helping Tawny turn her life around. She moved into my parents' house, got completely de-stripperfied, and is taking three college classes. I'm tutoring her and she's actually pretty smart. Her dad was a math teacher and she was an A student until he died and her life went to hell thanks to her mother. She says she wants to get a college degree, be a surrogate mom for us twice, and then she's going to track down her mom and tell her she was wrong about her never doing anything good with her life. Cletus wants to write a country song out of the story."

Seeing the shock on Carrie's face, Nick explained, "Tellin' her she could be our surrogate was our way of gettin' her to clean up her act. We were hopin' she'd get used to livin' right and not want to return to the sex industry."

"But she loves livin' with my folks and she talks nonstop about having our kids." Greg sweetly laughed, "She's the only woman on the planet who has ever said she'd be psyched to have my kid, so naturally I'm flattered. She even volunteered to do it the old fashioned way, which would make her the only double-d babe who ever wanted to sleep with me, but we told her that would violate our monogamy policy."

"You're serious?" Carrie's hopes for a baby daddy were crashing before her eyes.

Meeting his partner's eyes, Nick said, "Are we serious?"

"Yes," Greg replied without hesitation. "I'm getting a little more excited about it every day."

* * *

**ANs:**

A happier chapter after the drama of the last two! I hope you enjoyed all the couples.

KJT edited the first half and my husband did the second half – thanks to both! My husband swears there will not be a typo found in his part, so if you find one, don't hesitate to share! LOL

Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter, I really appreciate everyone who continues to share their thoughts and say thanks. Sorry I haven't been able to personally reply to everyone, but it's Spring Break here for a 2 ½ weeks and my computer time has been limited. I should have some more time this week : )

**A note about my Sheriff/Mayor/PR guy scene -**a few people thought my scene between the mayor, sheriff and governor's aide was too over the top, that people really wouldn't get bent out of shape over a gay hero getting some fame in 2008 and one reader commented that I wrote the politicians as "unbelievable cartoon characters". For anyone who thinks that scene was unbelievable you might want to google 'Sally Kern You Tube' and listen to what that Oklahoma State Legislator said this week about gays when she** _thought_ **her words would stay behind closed doors.Mysheriff/mayor scene was sadly very believable.

Next Chapter – hopefully by next weekend!

**Thanks for reading! **

**Maggs**


	32. Chapter 32: In Due Time

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 32: In Due Time**

"Sorry I'm late," Nick apologized to Carrie as he slid into the booth across from her at Frank's diner. After meeting a month ago and hanging out together with their partners a few times, they had become fast friends and valuable case resources to one another.

"Why did you suggest this place?" the ADA asked, feeling it was a little dumpy.

"It's tradition, the gang always come here," Nick flipped his coffee mug right-side up. "And the service is great," he added when his favorite waitress Betty Sue rushed over to pour coffee. "Thanks, sweetheart."

"Anything for you, Tex," the 58 year old strawberry blond from El Paso winked at her favorite cowboy. "The usual?"

"You know it."

"And what about your friend?"

"She'll do her own ordering." Nick grinned at his newest pal. "Trust me, she doesn't need a man tellin' her what she wants."

"That's right." Carrie smiled at the waitress, "I'll have an egg white omelet with veggies, no extra butter or grease of any kind, please. 2 slices of dry whole grain bread lightly toasted, and small glass of orange juice without pulp if you have it, thank you."

"Coming right up…Sally."

"High maintenance," Nick coughed into his fist.

"Shut up, Stokes." Carrie ripped open a packet of Splenda for her coffee.

"Oh sure, you say you eat healthy, and then you go and fill your coffee with toxic waste. One day when your kid is born with 3 arms, you'll remember I told you not to use that stuff."

Panicking that he wouldn't want to contribute sperm to a woman who drank artificially sweetened drinks, she set aside the packet. "You're right, you're absolutely right. As of right now, I'm done with the stuff."

"Diet Coke too? That stuff is chemicals in a can, Missy."

The concept of life without Diet Coke threw Carrie into a panic because she drank six cans a day. "Diet Coke too."

"Good for you. Like I said the other night, Greg and I are on a serious health kick. We've even vowed to only socially drink booze. That's a big step for me. I've been usin' beer and sex to decompress after work for a decade."

"You're giving up sex?"

"Yeah," Nick laughed, "the day that I die. Alcohol and calories in moderation, but we can have all the vigorous sex, exercise, and water as we want. I even did Yoga yesterday. Greg's into all that holistic crap, so I thought I'd give it a try. I kinda liked it, and Greg actually stayed quiet for five minutes while we were meditating, so that was nice. I wasn't actually meditating, I was makin' a mental To Do list, but it still soothed me." Lifting his coffee mug, Nick relaxed against the worn leather seat. "So, what did you want to discuss? The Madden trial?"

"Um…no."

"After we talk about your thing, I want to pick your brain about this supposedly unprosecutable case that's been drivin' me crazy."

"Okay." She worked up the nerve to pop the question.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"I'm uh…"

"Are ya pregnant?" he asked with a smile. At dinner the other night, Jean had told Greg that Carrie was desperate to start a family before she turned 30 in December. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, that's…"

"No, I'm glad you brought up the subject of pregnancy." Hearing her biological clock ticking in the background, she forged ahead, "I'm not pregnant, but I am dying to get pregnant. The problem is, it's hard to find someone willing to help us out, someone with the right health, intelligence, and character, who is also willing to be a part of the child's life. I know a lot of lesbian couples want just the opposite, they want a donation with no strings attached, but not me. I was really close with my father right up until he passed away two years ago. Jean and I want to be the primary parents, but ideally I would love the donor to be involved enough so that the child feels like they have a daddy as well as two mommies. I know plenty of guys who will donate, but so far none of them have been willing to be involved in the child's life. There are dozens of websites to help gay and lesbian couples find the right situation, but I've not had a gut feel about anyone's bio."

"I was worried about Greg and me bringin' kids into the world with no one to mommy them, but with Greg's mother around and now Cassie and Jenni as aunts, I think things will be covered. And who knows, Tawny may want to stay involved too."

"How's Tawny doing at Mama Jan's Baby Preparation Boot Camp?"

"Fantastic." Picking up his coffee mug, he relaxed in the booth. "She's completely recovered from her breast implant removal surgery and lovin' her new look…or I guess it's her old look," he chuckled. "Tawny, Cassie and Jenni all share a special bond, because they've been given a chance at a whole new life thanks to Jan and Dave. Seein' them thrive is great, but it makes me sad for all the hurtin' kids in this town who could use the same chance at a loving home and fresh start. It won't happen for most of 'em, y'know?"

"You're such a sensitive guy, Nick." She smiled, "And I mean that as a huge compliment."

"Thanks." Moving the attention off him, he said, "Tawny's still hell bent on bein' a surrogate for Greg and me. She thinks usin' her body for good will make up for usin' it for sinful purposes for years. She's kind of obsessed with karma after readin' some book she found at the library." He chuckled, "I told her it would be a hell of a lot quicker to ask the Lord for forgiveness and go about livin' right, but she said, and I quote, 'nah, no one would buy it, they'd just see me as another born-again ex-stripper bombarding them with Jesus talk to make them forget I was a big time slut.'."

"Considering I deal with pathological liars all day, I find her honesty is very refreshing."

"Me too." Grinning, he lifted his mug for a sip.

In the spirit of honesty, she blurted, "Would you consider being our baby's daddy? Jean and I think you have the perfect DNA for the job."

Choking on the coffee gulp he just swallowed, Nick couldn't reply.

"Sorry!" Carrie rushed around to slap her friend's back and screamed, "Put your hands up. Hands up!"

Thinking a robbery was going down, nearby cops jumped to their feet.

"It's okay!" Still coughing, Nick assured the dozen officers staring them down, "I was choking. We're cool."

"Sorry," Carrie whispered as she returned to her side of the booth. "I…I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Is that what this has been about?" Nick asked, feeling a little betrayed. "I really liked the idea of Greg and I havin' some normal gay friends that we could socialize with, but you were just bein' nice to us so I'd fill a specimen jar?"

"No, not at all, we really want to be friends with both of you, but I couldn't help but size you up, because you have so many of the qualities I've been looking for. Even if you say no, I definitely want to be friends, and I know Jean feels the same way. We've only been in Vegas for a short time, well Jean's from here originally, but we used to live in Seattle. We moved here so she could be near her mother who was diagnosed with MS. When you said you wanted four kids, I thought it was worth asking if you would be interested in going for two with me. Obviously, we have a **massive** amount of questions that I need answered, like do you intend to move away from Vegas to live in New Zealand and I don't know a thing about your parenting style. I have a list actually. There are 237 questions I would like to go through if you're interested in discussing the matter further. I'm sure you have a ton of questions and concerns too. If we get through that part, then the four of us would need to spend some quality time together and get comfortable."

Watching the lawyer pull a binder from her briefcase, Nick remained speechless.

"We could discuss the questions together, or if it's easier, I have them on a CD-Rom and you could take everything home and answer them on your computer."

"Wow."

"What?"

Still stunned, Nick vacantly said, "I've been on some pretty freaky dates with women, some of 'em propositioned me with real bizarre requests, but this is a first. Usually the women wanted to make sure I **didn't **get near their eggs."

* * *

"I made you an omelet, honey!" Jan yelled down the hall. "Ask your father if he wants more coffee!" Wiping her wet hands on her apron, she returned to the kitchen and filled a mug for Greg. "Shoot! I forgot to make toast."

"That's okay," Greg stated, overhearing his mother, "I didn't want toast anyway, and dad said no to more coffee."

"Only three weeks married to a carb-hater and you're anti-bread?" She handed over a steaming mug. "What's Nick going to brainwash you to do next? Go to church? Oh wait, that already happened last weekend."

"Hey, be happy your Jesus lovin' son-in-law agreed to take Cassie every Sunday so you don't have to." A few weeks ago, Cassie had mentioned to Nick that she really missed going to church and youth group, but didn't want to ask Jan or Dave to take her since they were already doing so much for her. "And he didn't ask me to stop eating bread, I changed my diet so I can get lean and make my six pack pop."

"For Nick."

"For me!" Greg laughed, "Roy hosted a little pool party the other day, and every guy there, even Bobby D, had better abs than me."

She mischievously giggled, "Suddenly I'm bummed I didn't pop over for a visit that day. Was it one of those wild gay pool parties where all the guys lose their trunks and…mingle?"

Cringing, Greg lowered his fork full of eggs, "Sorry to disappoint you, Jan, you dirty-minded freak, but group skinny dipping and backyard orgies are against our house rules. And to answer your earlier accusation, Nick didn't force me to go to church with him, he asked if I wanted to go and I said yes. I'm not anti-Jesus," he declared, lifting his coffee mug, "I can totally roll with what Jesus preached. I'm anti 'churches full of judgmental hypocrites who don't follow a damn thing Jesus said, but proclaim themselves Christians and believe they're superior to me'."

"That's exactly why organized religion is a sensitive subject with me, Gregory. Your grandparents got kicked out of the church in Norway when they conceived me out of wedlock, and not a single one of those so called Christians, including their own families, would give them the time of day when they were in need. They had to come to America and get help from atheist strangers." Taking a seat next to her son at the kitchen island, Jan said, "But since going to church is something Cassie needs, I'm not going to burden her with my negative feelings, especially after seeing how happy she was when she got home from the service yesterday."

"I felt great afterwards too." Greg stood to refill his coffee mug. "Who knew church would be like a rock concert complete with jumbo-tron TVs to see the ten-member band kickin' it on stage. Seriously, we were singing and clapping for like 30 minutes straight, how can you not feel jazzed after that? It's like spiritual caffeine."

"And you're sure it's gay friendly? Because the last thing I need to worry about is you getting your ass kicked by militant Christians who don't want you in their church."

"It said right on the handouts they gave us that they accept all people regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, etc, and we saw at least a dozen openly gay or lesbian couples there." Stirring his coffee, he returned to his seat. "After the service, when we were getting the youth group information for Cass, we met this really nice couple, Travis and Len. They have two adopted children and their daughter is twelve, so she'll be in the same group with Cassie on Wednesday evenings. We'll get to meet more people when we start going to this gay church group meeting thingy Cletus signed us up for where you talk about the Bible in more detail."

Jan chuckled, "That would be called a Bible Study Group, dear."

"Wow, I never thought I'd go to one of those."

"That would be called selling out for your spouse, sweetheart." She patted his cheek. "Just promise me you won't drink Kool-Aid if your new church friends hand you a cup and tell you it's time to go to heaven."

"I promise," he assured his religion-leery mother. "And I'm not selling out, I'm supporting my spouse, just like he does stuff to support me. I don't want him to have to go alone to a meeting alone when he's married, no more than Dad likes going alone to business parties without you. Nick wants to be able to respond to his family's concerns about homosexuality and the Bible, and that's the kind of stuff this group focuses on."

Smiling, she patted his shoulder. "You really are sounding very married, honey."

"Yeah." He laughed while forking more eggs, "Cletus and I are so married that we even went four days in a row without sex before we realized we hadn't had sex."

"Wow, your father and I didn't skip a day for the first two months of our marriage."

"Overshare," he groaned before chomping his last bite of omelet.

"Then again, you and Nick are a lot older than we were at the beginning of our marriage."

"I don't think it was our ages as much as the fact that we were pulling doubles and processing brutal scenes all week. We both needed spooning and sleep way more than sex."

"Aww." The doting mother reached for her son's empty dish.

"We're back!" Cassie shouted as she walked through the back door with Jenni and Tawny. "Jenni made it all the way to Grant Park without taking a rest! Can you believe it?!"

"Way to go, sis!" Greg hopped off the kitchen stool to reward her with a hug. "You're gonna do great at Disneyland." She had been worried about slowing the group down if she didn't use a wheelchair.

"I can't believe we're leaving tonight!" The teen, who had never been to Disneyland, gushed with excitement, "I found this website that gives you tips on how to tour the park and use Fast Passes to get the most done with the least wait time. I plotted everything on a park map with different color markers and made contingency plans in case of unexpected ride closures or rain. I made this really cool log book to track our wait times, so I can report back to the website group if the plan worked, or if there were any errors in their logic."

Tawny shook her head at the analytical girl, "You could do all that, or you could just show up at the happiest place on Earth and go with the flow."

"My thoughts exactly," Jan chimed in, "the point of vacation is to kick back and lose track of time."

"Don't listen to them, sis." Greg beamed with pride, "This geek totally appreciates your over analytical approach."

* * *

"I can't believe the amount of research and planning you've done." Turning to page 17 in the binder, Nick read question 112, "Your 3 year old son isn't potty-trained, but all the other kids his age at the playground are. The parents start giving you a hard time about (insert your favorite name) still wearing diapers, what do you do?"

With baited breath, Carrie waited to see if Nick would answer the question correctly.

"I wouldn't give a rat's ass about what the playground parents think. I'd say I'm not gonna pressure Garrett to do something he's not developmentally ready to do. Some kids learn slower than others and bullying him into performing is gonna have the kid in therapy when he's 35 just like his daddy, who was spanked, screamed at, and threatened to perform every damn day of his stressed out childhood. I'd try to get Garrett to use the potty every couple of weeks, but if I sensed he wasn't ready, I'd back off knowing it will happen when the time's right." Grabbing his coffee mug, Nick asked, "Pass or Fail?"

"Pass! With flying colors! I didn't potty train until I was 4 years old, but I still went on to graduate at the top of my college and law school classes. I hate when I hear parents talk like their kid will be a total failure if he or she isn't out of diapers by 2 ½."

"Cool." Grinning, he checked the binder. "I'll keep goin'?"

"That's okay, you can stop answering them."

"Really? Because I already have my answer for the next one about appropriate preschool snacks. If the teacher served M&Ms and Twinkies every week, I'd be educatin' her on the dangers of empty carbs and sugar. Childhood obesity is out of control in this country. The last thing kids need to be learnin' in preschool is bad eating habits. I'd suggest baby carrots, whole grain goldfish crackers, and orange slices…as long as they were over 3, because there's choking dangers with fruit. My niece almost died chokin' on a hunk of orange when she was two."

Certain her search was over, Carrie beamed with excitement. "I'm really impressed."

* * *

"You're great at Algebra." Sitting at his parents' kitchen table checking Tawny's math homework, Greg happily reported, "You got every problem right. Your dad did a great job teaching you."

"He was voted Teacher of the Year at the high school and he went on to win the state Teacher of the Year contest too. The kids loved him." She excitedly shared, "After he died, the Student Council raised money to build this beautiful memorial garden for him on the school grounds, with real nice stone benches and a bird fountain. I haven't been back since I ran away, but I'm sure the flowers and trees are growing."

"What was the name of the school?"

"Taft High School."

Pulling his laptop close, Greg typed in the town and high school name. "Cool, they have a website. Maybe there's a photo of the garden."

"You think?" Tawny jumped out of her seat and rounded the table to stand behind Greg. "I never thought to check. Not that I have a computer, but I could have asked Benny at the club, he always has his with him."

"Check it out." Greg pointed to a link for 'Cooper Memorial Garden'.

Her blond ponytail swinging as she jumped, Tawny yelled, "Click it! Click it!"

"There you go." Staring at the photo of the beautiful tribute, Greg said, "The photo is dated, it's only two weeks old, so I think it's safe to say you know what it looks like today." When the sound of Tawny's crying echoed in the kitchen, he whirled around. "Tawny…"

"What's going on?" Dave Sanders asked as he entered the room. "I thought I heard crying." Living in a house with an overly emotional wife and three emotionally damaged girls, the odds of there not being tears every day were slim to none. "What happened, son?" he asked, knowing better than to ask the crying girl who wouldn't be able to get out a coherent word while sobbing.

"She wanted to know if her father's memorial garden was still growing, so I looked up the school's website on my laptop." Greg pointed. "It's really beautiful, but I'm guessing it brought back a lot of memories…good and bad."

Tawny wiped her face as Dave took her in his arms. "I miss him so much. He told me he'd always be here for me…that he loved me…so much and forever."

Knowing the guy died of a massive heart attack, Dave softly replied, "He didn't break his promise, Tawny. He just didn't expect to go so soon."

"I know," Tawny sniffled, feeling soothed by the fatherly embrace. "I made it to the hospital right before he died, and his last words were…I'm sorry, Princess, please don't cry."

* * *

"Hell, yeah, my son can cry if wants to." Sitting on a park bench watching a dozen toddlers on the playground, Nick said, "My father didn't let me cry. One time he slapped me across the face just for tearin' up."

"Why were you upset?"

"Because I broke my wrist in two places playin' ball and it hurt like hell."

"Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately." Nick raised his water bottle to his lips wishing it was a beer. "I think it's possible to be a good, strict parent without bein' a nasty bastard. I don't want to be my kid's best friend. I think kids want and need boundaries and rules to be successful and to do that right, you can't their buddy. It sucks bein' told you can't stay out 'til midnight when it seems like everyone is, so I know they're gonna get pissed at me, but hopefully they'll love me enough to know deep down that I wouldn't be sayin' it if there wasn't good reason. They can pretend to hate me for it, while really lovin' me for it."

"With all the horrible stuff we see and hear on the job, our child wouldn't stand a chance in hell of escaping a lecture."

"Our child." He smiled, "No offense, but that sounds so weird."

Staying positive, Carrie asked, "So you'll speak to Greg today?"

"Definitely." Watching a little boy toss a ball with his dad, Nick's desire for children grew. "I think he'll be more than okay with it. I think he'll feel like it takes the pressure off us doin' somethin' before he's ready. It's kinda like the potty training question…I don't want Greg to do somethin' he's not developmentally ready to do. This arrangement would give him a taste of parenthood without the demands and responsibility of a baby 24/7. It would be a safe way of testing the waters and giving him a chance to ease into the role and gain confidence. I absolutely know in my heart that he's going to be a great dad one day, but he has a tendency not to believe he's capable of something until he actually does it."

"He seems so sweet natured, I can't imagine kids not liking him. I never would have asked you if I didn't think Greg would make a great father too." "

"He's not been around them much. Me, I've been an uncle forever and takin' care of kids since I was fourteen. It comes real natural to me."

"It's so hard for me not to get crazy excited." Carrie was bursting at the seams. "I can't wait to be a mom."

"And you're really gonna put your career on hold like you said?"

"As much as I love helping victims and locking up scumbags, I've devoted the last ten years of my life to it and I won't feel guilty for taking a break to raise a family. Six months after the baby is born, I plan on donating my attorney services to a woman's shelter, so consulting will satisfy any legal urges I get."

"My friend Sara kinda came to that same type of conclusion recently. She walked away from her career to focus on her personal life and education. She's seems real content with the decision."

"When something's right, you feel it in your gut."

"Yeah." Observing a mother wiping her little girl's tears, Nick said, "Part of me thinks I'm insane for even entertaining this idea, but the other part is ready to go shoppin' for stuffed teddy bears and rattles."

"What's so insane about it?"

"For starters, we've only known each other a short time."

"All over this town people meet in bars and make babies an hour later without even knowing each other's last names. And what about the teenage girls who have babies without even knowing who the father is, because they slept with too many guys or were too drunk to remember who had sex with them. If parents were required to do the amount of due diligence that we're doing before they're allowed to conceive, there would be a hell of a lot less unwanted pregnancies, neglected and abused children, and domestic violence. Even married couples sometimes don't discuss their ethics and parenting styles before getting pregnant, then they find out after the baby arrives that they have drastically different opinions on how they intend to raise the child. And what about couples who divorce without thinking about their children? I've seen instances where children don't even know where they'll be sleeping after their parents call it quits. We'll have every scenario planned for and legally documented."

"When you put it that way."

"Don't you think a baby made by choice with the approval of four consenting adults has a great shot at a successful, loving life?"

"I do." Nick checked his watch. "Greg should be back from tutoring Tawny, so I'm gonna head home." He winked, "I'll call ya later."

Carrie waved him on, "Go, go! What are you waiting for?"

* * *

"It took ya long enough to get here." Bobby excitedly greeted his boyfriend with a kiss. "I have a surprise I've been waitin' to give you."

Roy kicked the door closed and yanked off his tee. "Give it to me, baby."

"Not that kind of surprise," the older man laughed while grabbing his lover's hand and dragging him toward the couch. "Sit and cover your eyes."

"Ooh, I'm intrigued."

"Good." Bobby rushed to the hall closet. "Hold out your hands."

"How can I cover my eyes and hold out my hands at the same time, D?"

"When you call me D, Nick thinks you're mocking him calling for callin' Greg 'G'."

"I was mocking him when I started callin' ya D," he chuckled, "but now I like it."

"Open your eyes."

When Roy saw a beautiful black Takamine acoustic guitar in his boyfriend's hands he said, "I didn't know you played."

"I don't." Bobby exploded into a giddy smile. "I wanted to get you somethin' nice as a thank you for encouragin' me to come out and start livin'. But I couldn't figure out what to buy a guy in return for givin' me somethin' priceless. Then the other day, I heard you play your friend Casey's guitar and you told me the story of sellin' your guitar in San Francisco. You said it was your most cherished possession. That's when I knew exactly what to get you." He presented the gift. "Nick did some checkin' with your friends back in Dallas and they said you played an EF341SC."

"Yeah," Roy replied, in awe of the instrument being placed in his hands. "This had to set you back 1300."

"1200," Bobby corrected while soaking in the joy on his boyfriend's face. "It hardly seems like enough in exchange for gettin' me to start livin', but I hope the guitar plus this helps round things out." Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a silver key. "It's for my front door. You can use it to visit or you can move in and call it the key to our place. It's up to you, no pressure."

Overwhelmed by the moment, Roy sweetly replied, "I think I'm in love."

"I know I'm in love." Bobby crouched down and brushed his fingertips over Roy's cheek. "If I'm goin' too fast, I'm sorry, but my life's been on hold for so long," he choked up, "I…I can't help but rush, because I realize now that life's too short to not go for what I want."

* * *

"Can you believe she wants my sperm, G?" Nick said for the tenth time as he paced the family room carpet. "Not just the sperm, she wants me to have a role in the child's life, you too of course. Carrie and Jean would have primary custody and the baby would live there, but I would be the dad and later when the child is old enough to understand everything, they want it all out in the open. It's called a co-parenting arrangement and it's not uncommon with gay and lesbian couples apparently. There's even websites dedicated to hookin' up co-parents. She gave me a binder of paperwork to look at with you and discuss with a lawyer. Luckily we have a few in the family who work for free. So what do you think?"

"I…" Stunned by the news, Greg remained silent.

"Holy shit, are you actually speechless?! You?!"

"It's a lot to…wait a minute…have they been sizing us up this whole time?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"Did my sperm lose the coin toss or am I such a dweeb that I wasn't in the running from the start?"

"Uh." Nick hadn't considered his partner would feel inferior upon hearing the news.

"I wasn't in the running at all, was I? They were sizing you up, not me."

"Only because of my cholesterol levels." Nick was certain that would help his self-conscious partner feel better. "I have outrageously low levels and Carrie has a genetic…"

"How do they know my cholesterol isn't less than yours if they've only seen your medical records?"

"Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that." Nick took a seat on the coffee table across from his partner. "It's hard bein' in love with a genius."

"It's okay, Cletus, just say it." Greg slumped on the couch. "They didn't think I was daddy material."

"No, no, she never said that!" Nick looked him in the eyes. "Why would she want you to play a role in the child's life if she thought you weren't daddy material? Her exact words were 'I never would have asked you if I didn't think Greg would be a great daddy." "

"Really, I understand." Greg burst into a devious smile, "I want your body all the time, so how can I blame them for wanting it for their kid? Duh, of course they want you. Carrie already has the 1600 SAT score gene, so she doesn't need mine." Greg grabbed his spouse's hand and pulled him onto the couch next to him. "Just like me, she was lookin' for a stud."

"Next to gettin' serious with you, it's the biggest decision of my life."

"Yeah, and look how long you waited to get serious with me…two days."

"Hey, when it's right, it's right." Snuggled up on the couch facing each other, Nick asked, "Do you think we should say no, or do you want to wait and see how things go gettin' to know them?"

"A few weeks ago I probably would have said go for it, but today, I'm gonna have to say no."

Surprised that his partner gave such a quick and definitive answer, Nick said, "Really? Do you want to think about it a bit? Talk through the details?"

"No," Greg softly replied. "I used to think having kids was something you needed to do to feel complete as a Stokes man, because all the Stokes kids are brainwashed to believe that life isn't meaningful unless you grow up, get married, have a successful career, and make as many babies as possible."

"You said you _used to_ think that?"

"Yeah." Smiling, Greg stroked his partner's cheek. "But after watching you with Cassie, I know you wanting a kid isn't about you checking off the 'parent box' on that subconscious 'Stokes Family To Do List' that haunts you. You really want to be a dad. If you agree to be the donor for Carrie and Jean you'll be able to say you're a daddy, and yeah, they'll let you be involved on a limited basis, but that's not going to be enough, not by a long shot. Can you honestly see yourself just visiting your first born child? Can you imagine having to call and see if it's a good time to stop by and hold your week old infant?" He shook his head. "No way, Cletus. Having limited access to your newborn when you're in daddy overdrive would make your time in the coffin seem like a day at the spa."

"You're right." Blinded by his desire to be a father and to help a woman he liked and respected, he hadn't stopped to consider how hard it would be to stay away from his child for significant chunks of time.

"And that's not my only reason for saying no." Greg paused to press a tender kiss to his spouse's lips. "As much as I like Carrie and Jean and want to help them, I'm going to be selfish and say that I want your first child to be _our_ first child. I don't want you bonding with Carrie over the pregnancy and end up feeling like a third wheel. If we go the surrogacy route with Tawny, then it's_ our_ baby and we're equally as excited…the whole experience will be ours to share."

"God, I love you." Nick cupped his partner's face and kissed him hard.

"I love you too." As their noses brushed in an Eskimo kiss, Greg whispered, "After we have our family, I could totally get behind you helping Carrie and Jean or another couple that we could be compatible with, because it seems only right since we're going to need help from Tawny to have a baby."

"Yeah, yeah, I could too." Anxious about the future, Nick asked, "How soon would you be ready to go for it?"

"Right now sounds great." Joking, Greg popped open his jeans and pounced. "Oh! You meant for go for a baby."

* * *

"Are you planning to try for another baby right away?" Making notes in her chart, the OB/Gyn told her patient on the exam table, "Because if you are, I'd like to check your hcg level and verify that it has returned to normal."

Clutching Henry's hand, Mandy sat up and said, "No, the last pregnancy wasn't planned, so we won't be trying..."

"But we wanted the baby," Henry passionately told the doctor. "Just because it wasn't planned, doesn't mean we weren't happy about the pregnancy. We were thrilled, we were even polling co-workers about names, Dakota and Victoria won; Victoria is my grandmother's name. We were really looking forward to being parents together, and now that the pregnancy is over, how am I supposed to suddenly not want a baby?"

The doctor glanced up from her notes. "Miscarriage can be just as difficult on the father as the mother. These feelings you have…"

"Tell her to marry me!" Henry blurted, the emotions of the past three weeks finally taking their toll. "She thinks I only asked her because I felt sorry for her, or because I felt obligated, because I said I would marry her when she was pregnant, but she's wrong! I want to marry her because I love her and I can't imagine not spending the rest of my life with her."

"Henry, please," Mandy begged him, "we've already been through this. I want to be with you, I just don't want to rush into something when I'm an emotional wreck and can't enjoy it."

"She has a valid point," the doctor counseled the obviously distressed man. "You've both been through a lot, but on top of dealing with the loss, you need to remember that Mandy is physically off balance. Her body is going through changes and her hormone levels have plunged." She patted her patient's shoulder. "I'll tell the nurse you need a few minutes in here." She hurried to the door. "Take care."

"Sorry about the outburst." Henry moved his teary gaze to the floor. "I'll hold onto the ring until the time is right."

"Ring?" Mandy said, wiping her eyes. "What ring?"

"My grandmother's one carat diamond engagement ring." Henry pulled a gold velvet box from his pants pocket. "She said I could give it to you when I was crying on the phone to her telling her how much I love you and wish we still had our baby."

Her heart melted when she saw tears in his eyes.

"I'll stop at the bank on the way home and put it back in my safety deposit box."

"Could I see it first?"

"But then you won't be surprised one day in the future when I re-pop the question the right way at the right time in the right place."

Staring at her empty ring finger, she nodded, "I know it'll be worth the wait."

* * *

"They're ready for you to join them, Mr. Grissom." Stephanie, a perky 25 year old nurse's assistant motioned for the father-to-be to follow her.

Grateful the wait was over, Gil tossed the Newsweek magazine he had been reading and jumped to his feet. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure it is," she cheerily replied while opening the door to the ultrasound room. "Right in there."

"Thank you." Seeing his wife on the exam table with a sheet over her hips made his pulse rate soar.

"Hey." Sara smiled when she saw her anxious husband. "Get over here and hold my hand."

"Sorry." He chuckled at his stereotypical nervous father behavior.

"You're shaking."

"You're not?" Since hearing about Mandy's miscarriage, he felt constantly tense about Sara's pregnancy.

The ultrasound tech flipped off the lights. "Ready to meet your baby?"

"Yes," they answered, before taking deep breaths in unison.

With the ultrasound wand in hand, the tech warned, "You'll feel just a little pressure, Sara."

"Okay." She tightened her grip on Gil's hand while hoping for good news.

"There." The tech pointed to the flicker on the screen. "That little flutter is your baby's heartbeat, Mom and Dad. Everything looks great."

The scientists stared at their tiny miracle with mutual awe.

The tech smiled at the teary-eyed couple, "You're a day shy of 7 weeks pregnant and the estimated due date is February 17th."

* * *

"I'm not ready to have a baby," Greg blurted as his panic grew. Flipping through Carrie's 'Prospective Daddy Binder' in bed with Nick had made the romantic idea of having a baby together morph into the frightening reality of being responsible for a child 24/7 for the next 18 years. "I don't know how to answer some of these questions and some of them are scaring the hell out of me."

"It's a lot to take in all at once," Nick chuckled, "but you gotta remember all those needs and issues won't be happening all at the same time, G. You deal with the baby stuff, and then it's toddler stuff, then early childhood and puberty…"

"Dude! I haven't even gotten to the other parts yet, I'm still on the baby section."

"Oh." Nick tried not to laugh.

"I think I was wrong about the baby timeshare idea." Greg shut the binder and sunk into his pillows. "I think you should help out Carrie and Jean. I think I was acting like a self-centered brat earlier, making it all about me. I mean, we're asking Tawny to help us and make her first pregnancy all about us, but then I'm not willing to help another woman have a baby or let you experience fatherhood until I'm 100 percent comfortable."

"You're serious?"

"Yes!" Greg joked, "And I'd rather practice parenting on their child, and then get it right with my kid later."

"You're laughin', but honestly, I can kind of see it that way too." Propping up on an elbow, Nick said to his panicked mate, "I mean yeah, it'll be tough to not be with my baby all the time, but we need to get real and consider the flip side of that…with our careers, it'll be tough to be **with **the baby all the time too. What will be harder to do? Stayin' away sometimes when I want to be there? Or feelin' guilty for not bein' here as much as I should be? I don't know which would feel worse, but at least in the first scenario, the baby doesn't suffer for lack of a parent or from havin' overly stressed parents. I know your mom has volunteered to help, but your mom has a lot on her plate with Cassie and Jenni. We can't burden her with takin' care of our baby until they're settled, which will take a while, G."

"Yeah."

"And what if you and I find it too difficult to have a baby with our careers, it's not like we can take it back. If we have the baby with Carrie and find out it would be too much to do full time, then there's no harm done, and we still get to be part-time dads. If we find ourselves lovin' it and wantin' a full time family here, then we haven't lost anything, we still have that option, and we'll know exactly what we need to do to care for a baby full time, rather than goin' in blind and assuming we know."

"I couldn't agree more."

"And Carrie will be a fantastic mom."

Holding up the binder, Greg said, "And the most organized PTO President this town has ever seen."

"No doubt," Nick chuckled. "I don't know, G…it's a huge decision and we keep goin' back and forth."

"Yeah, but you never changed your mind about wanting to be a dad, it's always me freaking out or us debating how we'd go about it." Greg quietly admitted, "I want to be as confident as you, but…I'm not, and I'm really scared I'll panic and balk after you tell Carrie no. Then you won't get to be a full or part time dad. And after seeing Tawny so emotional today, she needs a daddy more than she needs to make us daddies in the next year."

"I don't want you to agree to something you're not ready to do."

"I know." After a minute of contemplative silence, Greg faced his partner, whispering, "After watching people's dreams getting crushed every night in this city, how cool would it be to make someone's dream come true?"

Caressing his partner's cheek with the back of his hand, Nick softly replied, "It would be a real nice change of pace."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Greg reached for the phone excited to make some dreams come true that morning.

* * *

"You never come to the studio in the morning." Jean walked to meet her partner at the lobby door. "Slow day in court or…wait…you've been crying."

As Carrie nodded, a fresh batch of tears pooled in her eyes.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Grateful she didn't have a class to teach for another hour, Jean asked, "Is it the case with the little girl who…"

"Nick called."

"Oh, honey." Jean rushed to embrace her. "You showed him the binder, didn't you? I wish you would have…"

"No." Carrie finally choked out, "Nick loved the binder, and he talked to Greg…they said yes."

* * *

**ANs:**

Thanks for reading! I managed to find a little time to finish the chapter during Spring Break craziness.

I know there were varying opinions about Nick and Greg's decision, so I'm sure there will be different reactions to the ending. When someone is in the mindset to have a child like Nick is, it's very hard to shake that urge, and Greg while he's been desperately trying to get in the same mindset, just isn't there yet. Greg ultimately made the choice because he wants Nick to be a daddy sooner than later, but knows Tawny isn't ready and neither is he. This decision to co-parent with Carrie and Jean, doesn't mean that they won't explore other options in the future too. Just like any other part of the story, just because something is decided in 1 chapter doesn't predict the rest of the story.

I know people have personally experiences with co-parenting, surrogacy and adoption that make them see the different processes as positive or negative. Just because you know of a bad experience with any of the those scenarios, doesn't mean every instance in real life or fiction is a disaster, but I know it's natural to see the story through a personal filter.

Have a great weekend! And thank you for your feedback and support of the story : )

Thanks to KJT for editing when it's a 5-day holiday weekend in Oz! And to Veronica and my hubby for pre-reading.

Next chapter is already up!

Maggs


	33. Chapter 33: It's a Small World Part 1

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 33: It's a Small World After All – Part 1**

"The girls' suitcases and backpacks are by the front door," Dave informed his wife who was busy at the kitchen counter packing a cooler of snacks and drinks. "They were bouncing off the walls watching the minutes crawl by, so I told them to go for a swim. Tawny's reading by the pool and watching them."

Nodding, Jan stuffed the last of the food in the cooler. "I made two sandwiches for everyone and…"

"It's only a three and a half hour drive and the girls have already eaten dinner."

"I just want to make sure they have plenty of food in case they break down."

"Why are you so nervous?" he queried, wrapping his arms around his wife from behind. "You're acting like we're putting them on a bus to go to Disneyland alone."

"I hate the idea of driving on the highway with the girls late at night." She grumbled, "But Nick demanded they leave at nine."

"The boys needed to sleep after getting home from work and the girls wanted to be at the park when it opens in the morning. They only have three days to fit in everything they want to do, and they have to do it at Jenni's pace." When his wife only muttered under her breath, he stepped away from the embrace. "Sweetheart, Nick is more than capable of protecting the girls if they break down, and he told me he purposely took his truck in for a tune up and new tires last week so it would be in peak shape for the drive."

She rolled her eyes as she zipped the cooler shut.

"What has gotten into you?"

"How can you not have a problem with your son living to follow Nick's orders?" Her irritation growing, she snipped, "He's following him to church of all places! To **Bible **Study. I can't even believe my genius son is going to step foot in a Bible class. I'd _love_ to see his face when they discuss creationism. He's a scientist for crying out loud!"

"It's a support group for gay Christians, not a Bible brainwashing course."

"Greg_ never_ showed any interest in going to church until he became Nick's dutiful wife."

"No, I think he's always been curious about religion, just like he's curious about most things, but he knew you'd disapprove if he went, and he was too much of a Mama's Boy to do anything that would upset you."

"That's absurd."

"You have a very selective memory, my dear. I _vividly_ recall you having a fit when Greg came home from Stanford and said that Lacey's family invited him to Midnight mass on Christmas Eve. You ranted nonstop until he called her and said he couldn't go because he didn't realize we had made special plans for the night. He felt compelled to lie to his girlfriend, because he didn't want you to be mad. Does that sound healthy to you? And that's just one example of how you undermined his relationship with her."

Recalling the drama her husband had described, Jan busied herself about the kitchen in silence.

Dave warned his church-hating wife, "You're going to end up hurting Cassie's feelings if you keep ranting about Greg going to church. She's the one who asked to go, remember? Nick is just the guy taking her, and Greg's tagging along because he's curious and enjoys spending time with his husband on his days off."

"Okay fine, but what about Greg turning his nose up at carbs and sugar all of a sudden? Three weeks as Nick's wife and our son is so obsessed with his appearance that he even can't eat his favorite childhood treat without feeling bad?"

Dave replied with conviction, "Personally I'm thrilled he's taking an interest in getting lean and bulking up, because it lessens the odds of him getting his ass kicked again." Chuckling, he added, "And I can't blame him for feeling self-conscious about his body when he has to take his shirt off at pool parties in front of gay studs like Roy. Remember how you felt when we joined the country club and you found yourself lounging at the pool with Barbie dolls? You didn't get a breast lift and tummy tuck for my benefit, Jan, it was so you would feel better in front of your peers. Same thing with Greg, he knows Nick loves him the way he is, but he hates feeling like the scrawniest guy poolside."

Having lost her second argument in five minutes, Jan decided to launch her third complaint on the way out of the room and away from her logical husband, "Fine! But nothing is going to convince me that Nick isn't keeping our son on a short leash so he can call all the shots!"

* * *

"Shut up and roll over, Tex." Greg snickered as he threw open his nightstand drawer. "We only have an hour, and before I spend three chaste nights in a thinly-walled hotel suite with my impressionable young sisters, I need a little quality time with your ass."

"And what if I say no?" Nick playfully replied without budging.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion." Greg shoved his lover onto his stomach. "You know you're going to insist on driving to Anaheim, and once we're at the happiest place on Earth you're bound to go Type A." Flipping open the bottle in his hand, he grinned, "So, I'm taking some concentrated time in the driver's seat before I hand you the literal and proverbial keys for the next 72 hours. Fair enough? Good." With great glee he drizzled liquid onto his partner's unsuspecting body.

"Geez!" Nick jumped from the cool jolt to his heated flesh, "You shoulda warmed that stuff up."

"You're lucky I'm warming_ you _up," Greg rasped as he hastily began. "You're lucky I even woke you up. I'm in a very impatient mood thanks to a saucy little dream I had."

In between moans, Nick said, "Tell me about your naughty dream."

Greg shared the details while nipping and kissing the delectable body before him, "We had the whole It's a Small World ride to ourselves and I was having my way with you in boat number 43. All the little toy dolls were cheering and clapping, except the Japanese dolls, they were taking pictures. Then when we…"

"I've heard enough, thanks." Nick glanced over his shoulder. "My grandparents took me on that ride when I was little, so I don't want it dirtied up."

Ignoring the request, Greg hummed the ride's irritating theme song while slicking his aroused anatomy.

"Hey, G…why does handlin' your wiener inspire you to sing It's a Small World?"

"Good one." Gripping his lover's hips, the power-hungry top made a bold move.

"Damn." It was his partner's most aggressive start to date.

"I guess it's not a small world after all." Tossing his head back, Greg laughed at his own joke.

Guttural noises accented the complacent bottom's words, "And to think….your mother believes…I'm in charge around here." After a deep breath in and out, he joked, "G, I have to sit in a car for hours tonight."

"Aww." Watching his lover submissively drop his head onto the pillows drove Greg wild. "That's right…suck it up, tough guy." Several lusty minutes later, he released his vice grip on Nick's hips and pushed him onto his back. "I just realized I forgot to say good morning."

"It's 8pm."

"But it's morning for us." While dispensing wet, hot kisses, Greg re-positioned himself over his man. "A very good morning."

"MmmHmm."

"Love you, Cletus."

"Love you too." Nick squirmed as his devious lover tormented his body with false starts. "Come on."

"Say please."

"Please, baby." When their bodies were merged once more, Nick said, "I doubt the hotel's wake up call will be as good as this one."

"I don't know, for a nominal fee you can request that Mickey Mouse will personally call you every morning."

Nick's smile faded. "Bringin' up Mickey Mouse while we're havin' sex is seven kinds of wrong."

Greg responded by humming the theme from the Mickey Mouse club.

"Twisted."

"Is that your new safety word?"

"No." Nick lunged for a kiss. "My safety word is still 'timeout', but don't worry, there's not a chance in hell I'll be usin' it."

"Good."

"So good," Nick moaned, as his hands reached for the body rocking above him.

"I told you yoga would increase your flexibility."

"It's relaxin' too. I'm gonna do it every day."

"Good boy." Enjoying the playful tone of their love making, Greg joked, "That reminds me, I need to measure your neck for that rhinestone dog collar I'm getting you as a wedding present."

"Like I'd wear it."

"Like I'd give you a choice, bitch."

The over the top line threw them both into laughter.

"You're too much, G."

"I'll take that as a physical compliment, thank you." While attempting to yank his partner closer, Greg felt a familiar sharp pain in his shoulder.

"You okay?" When Nick saw him wince a second time, he said, "Your shoulder actin' up?"

"Yeah." Greg rolled onto his back and massaged the tender spot. "Sorry, but it's hard to pull off dominating you when I'm whimpering."

The cowboy straddled his disappointed lover's hips and gave an encouraging smile. "C'mon, you can still order me around."

The top's smile returned. "Giddy up, Tex…and you better make it a long, hard ride."

After a pretend tip of his hat, Nick followed orders. "I think I'm gonna buy you a black Stetson and a pair of chaps as a wedding gift."

* * *

"Nick will probably start picking out Gregory's clothing," Jan told her husband who was attempting to ignore her as she buzzed around his home office. "He already mocks his shirts."

"Yeah, and Greg mocks Nick's love of country music constantly, and he razzes him about his quirks all the time. It's what newlyweds do, Jan." Although he was thrilled that his wife had drastically reduced her Valium intake, he was starting to wish she hadn't.

"I never would have predicted you as president of the Nick Stokes fan club."

"And why shouldn't I be?" Dave replied without looking up from his laptop. "He's a great husband and one day he'll be a terrific father."

* * *

"Nick only agreed to have his sister review the legal paperwork," Jean reminded her partner, "it's not a done deal yet, so please don't jump the gun. I think we should be cautiously optimistic."

"Okay, okay." Instead of daydreaming, Carrie resumed working on her opening argument for a rape trial she was prosecuting.

"I'm just being careful," Jean teased, "because I know those lawyer types are irritatingly picky when it comes to contracts."

* * *

"Our little brother has lost his mind!" Attorney Nancy Stokes breathlessly informed her youngest sister Gwen, as she marched into her house waving a file. "He wants to donate his sperm to a lesbian couple and co-parent a baby with them."

"What?" Gwen gaped at her eldest sister as she closed the front door.

Holding up the file, the lawyer explained, "He asked me to review the paperwork. I can't believe he's seriously considerin' time sharin' a baby with a woman he just met a month ago. How desperate can he be?"

"Pretty desperate," Gwen replied, recalling her recent conversations with her brother. Walking toward the kitchen, she shared, "I've been speakin' to him at least twice a week and he's definitely baby crazy. I mean he's always wanted a family, but after he almost got shot on the job, he's become obsessed. He was cryin' as he talked about almost dyin' without ever bein a daddy. Then last week he was real emotional about Cassie McBride and how hard it is droppin' her off to let someone else parent her when he feels such a strong paternal bond with her."

"You know I love Nicky as he is, and I have no problem with him bein' gay and gettin' hitched to Greg," Nancy took a seat at the kitchen table and dropped her purse onto the chair next to her, "but after readin' about a couple of lesbians and a couple of gay men tryin' to time share a kid because they can't have one on their own, there is some truth to gay marriage bein' unnatural. How can a bunch of different people raise one child?"

Handing her career-obsessed sister a glass of iced tea, Gwen delicately said, "No offense, but you've had a live-in nanny or maid takin' care of Skye and Travis so you and Lyle could pursue your careers. It's kinda the same thing only y'all live under your roof. How many hours a day did you see Skye once you returned to work?"

"It's really sad to say this out loud, but when I was workin' to make partner at the firm, most days I only got to hold her in the morning and kiss her while she was asleep at night."

"See."

Understanding her sister's reasoning, Nancy countered, "I get your point, but Skye was still my full-time child and I knew I could see her whenever I wanted. On holidays and vacations, she was all mine. In this co-parenting situation, the lesbian couple will have primary custody and Nicky will only get visitation rights, granted it's a very generous visitation schedule, and they clearly want him and Greg to be very active father figures, but if Nicky wants to be with his child on major holidays or the kid's birthday, he has to be with the women too. He couldn't bring the baby to Dallas to be with us at Christmas or to Greg's parents' house to be with Cassie unless the women come along. If he wants to bring his child on vacation, he has to get their permission, and not just for the locale, but for the activities they do while on vacation."

"What if the lesbians move away?"

"According to the contract, they can't move more than fifteen miles away from Nicky unless he gives them permission. But the flip side of that is, they don't want him movin' either, because they don't want the child growin' up without a daddy." Seeing her sister's reaction, Nancy said, "**Now** do you see why I think it's crazy? They have to live together, celebrate holidays together, vacation together…it's like the four of them are marryin' when they barely know each other! What if Greg ends up not likin' the mother of the baby? If he wants to stay with Nick, he's either stuck with the baby mama for the rest of his life or he's leavin' Nicky. I feel bad enough that Greg is stuck dealin' with certain Stokes family members for the rest of his life, now he has to put up with all this too. And what if Nicky can't stand his baby mama's partner? Or what if they never give him permission to bring the kid to Dallas or ride a horse?"

"He needs to get their permission to put the kid on a horse?"

"Here." Nancy slid over the contract. "There's a 'dangerous sports clause' and horseback ridin' is listed along with scuba divin', ice hockey, oh hell, the list is huge, see for yourself."

Gwen took a seat across from her sister and flipped through the packet, which Nancy had tagged with 43 numbered sticky notes. "Okay, yeah, this is crazy." She glanced up from the document. "How could he not think these stipulations are crazy?"

"Honey, I don't think he read the packet in detail before he faxed it over to me. He had just gotten it and was in a rush to get to sleep."

"Even if the rules weren't crazy, how the hell is Nicky gonna time share his first born child if droppin' off Cassie makes him cry?" Feeling sad for her brother, Gwen shook her head. "Poor Nicky, he's obviously so desperate he's not thinkin' things through."

"That's okay, that's what expert lawyers and loving sisters are for." Nancy, who had also handled her brother's will and reviewed his Domestic Partnership Agreement, sighed into her iced tea, "If Nicky married a woman, his life would be **far **less complicated and he could have as many kids as the woman would agree to squeeze out."

"Isn't that exactly why it's so damn obvious that it's not a choice to be gay? Who would anyone sign up for these complications if they didn't have to?"

"You're preachin' to the choir, sister, but unless you have a certified letter from God to present to Linda, Eileen, Chuck, and Daddy, don't waste another breath tryin' to convince them Nicky isn't choosin' to be gay just to make them uncomfortable."

Gwen laughed, "Yeah, I'm sure Nicky was sittin' around one day wonderin' how he could make Linda uncomfortable when the obvious answer came to him…I'll just bend over and let a guy have my ass."

"You don't think he actually lets Greg…" When she saw her sister nod, Nancy gasped, "You two have spoken about…that."

"Yeah, we've always talked openly about sex." Gwen sweetly chuckled, "I'll never forget the time Nicky called me from A&M his sophomore year all freaked out because a girl wanted to have sex with him while havin' her period."

"You'd think sharin' a bathroom with his sisters' pads and tampons would have desensitized him over the years."

* * *

"And don't worry about Jenni having her period while you're away," Jan cheerily informed her son as they walked through the master bedroom to get to her bathroom, "she finished last week."

"Why would I need to know that?!" Greg shivered from the overshare. "Eww."

"What if the poor girl needed a maxi pad while you're at Disneyland?"

He laughed, "She could always ask Cinderella to spot her one."

"Seriously, it's not like she can drive to the store, Gregory. She'd have to ask you to take her or to pick some up yourself."

"I've never bought feminine supplies before in my life."

"What are you going to do if you have a daughter one day?"

"There are four women in this house that can educate her on the horrors of being a female, so why would I ever have to talk about that icky stuff?"

"So you're going to outsource all the uncomfortable parts of parenting?"

He thought about telling his mother about the potential co-parenting arrangement, but knew she'd flip out.

"Your father was out of town when you had your first nocturnal emission; lucky for you I wasn't afraid to discuss _icky stuff_ or you would have spent five terror-filled days believing your body was exploding."

"Lucky isn't the word I would have chosen, but…" Remembering his promise not to be a jackass, he didn't finish his sentence. "Thanks for always being there, Mom."

Opening the medicine cabinet Jan queried, "Why do you need Advil, honey?"

"I aggravated my old shoulder injury."

"How?" She handed him the bottle of anti-inflammatory pills.

"I'd rather not say."

"Did Nick shove you again?"

"What?!" The question caught him completely off guard. "I can't believe you'd even think…"

"Sorry, it's just that he's been very bossy lately."

Feeling blindsided, he stared at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about? When has he been bossy?"

"When he was insisting on paying for your honeymoon suite out of his pocket, and then when he got territorial over me footing the bill for a deluxe suite at The Grand Californian this weekend. Or what about how he snapped at you for loading the dishwasher wrong when I was over your house last week, or how he got huffy because you forgot to follow his ridiculous pantry organization structure." She lowered her voice, "Be honest, sweetheart, doesn't it feel like he's controlling your every move?"

"Considering I hurt my shoulder pinning him down while I was screwing him senseless, I'd have to say no." His anger rising, he held up the pill bottle. "Thanks for the Advil, I gotta go."

Worried, Jan followed him into the master bedroom. "Honey, how do I know your 'I hurt my shoulder during sex' story isn't a BS story just like when you lied to your father about your bruise happening during sex?"

"Because it's not a lie!" he yelled, whirling around. "And since I don't have a track record of lying to you like I do with Dad, I expect you to believe me!"

"Don't yell at me, Gregory Hojem Sanders!"

"Don't accuse my husband of being abusive! He's not!" Shaking with anger, he struggled to calm down, "Yes, he likes to have things a certain way around the house, but it doesn't bother me, and here's why. Childhood abuse victims often find comfort in overly structuring their lives because they need to feel in control of their environment. I get that, and because I do, I'm more than happy to load the dishwasher the way he likes it and remember not to put boxes and cans on the same shelf in the pantry. Trust me, after what I've been through in the last year, being reminded to put the dish soap bottle under the sink when I'm done using it doesn't ruin my day."

"I didn't know that's why he's like that about the house."

"Because you're **my mother**, not Nick's spouse or his therapist. You're not supposed to know the private details of my married life. I shouldn't have to tell you that Nick insisted on picking out and paying for the honeymoon suite, because he's a romantic guy and he wants to make the night special for me on his own, rather than having my parents orchestrating what will hopefully be a very inmate night."

"He could have just said that."

"He tried to be subtle, but you weren't getting the point and like a normal person, he didn't really want to discuss his sex life with his mother-in-law."

"Fine." Jan moved on to her next point. "What was the big deal about this weekend with the girls then?"

"It meant the world to Nick to take Cassie on a nice vacation on his own dime, but then you had to show her photos of the deluxe suite at The Grand Californian in front of everyone and say you'd pay for us to stay there so the girls could have a first class vacation instead of **slumming it** off the Disney property. Of course he was irritated! You referred to his plans as 'slumming it'."

"He had a reservation at the Howard Johnson's off the freeway ramp, Gregory! It's not like I wasn't being accurate."

"Could you be more of a snobby..." He stopped himself before saying bitch. "That was an incredibly crappy thing to him, mom. Next time, why not just slice off his balls in front of a crowd?"

"Why did he take me up on the offer if I upset him?"

"Did you even **read **Cassie's essay?" he snarked. "Nick's the kind of guy who makes sacrifices for the people he loves. Once he saw Cassie was excited about staying there, he wasn't going to let his pride get in the way of her good time."

"What's going on?" Dave asked when he entered the room and saw tears in his wife's eyes. "The girls and Nick are waiting in the truck. You were only supposed to be right back, Greg."

"Our son got sidetracked getting Advil and calling me a meddlesome bitch."

"I never said she was a bitch," Greg quickly told his father, fearing he'd get blasted. "She just refuses to believe I'm happily married and that Nick isn't a controlling asshole who is ruining my life by making me load the dishwasher a certain way. After everything Nick's done for me and Cassie…it's so god damn frustrating, Dad!"

"Uh oh." Jan shook her finger. "Your new church friends would be terribly disappointed in you, son. You just broke one of their precious commandments."

"I'm about to break a few more!"

"Enough!" Dave stepped in the middle of the fray. "Both of you, calm down." He turned to his son, "She's tense from not taking Valium, you know how that goes, we've been through it before. She's also pissed that you're going to church, and you know the story there. Unfortunately, it's easier for her to say Nick is corrupting you than to accept that you're going against her wishes by choice. She loves you, she'll get over it, and you love her even though she drives you crazy sometimes." The peacemaker pointed to the door, "Now that we have that settled, go have a good time on vacation."

"Wait." The sniffling mother opened her arms. "Hug me before you go, Gregory." When he did, she attempted to joke away the tension, "Thank you, sweetie, I just wanted one more hug in case you're violently killed because your stubborn husband insisted on driving on the dangerous freeway late at night."

Getting it was a joke, Greg replied, "You really are a colossal bitch, Jan."Laughing with his parents, he said, "You know, if you're out of Valium, Mom, I'll be more than happy to risk my freedom and career by scoring some off the streets so Dad doesn't have to suffer the whole time we're gone."

"Nah." Dave shook his head, "Why risk it? I'll just keep her liquored up until you and the girls return safely." He patted his boy on the back. "Have a safe trip, and don't forget to call us when you get to the ridiculously overpriced hotel that your husband will never be able to afford on his measly public servant salary."

"I promise."

"And here…" Grinning, he tucked a 5 bill in his son's shirt pocket. "In case the control-freak won't give you money for an evil carb-filled, sugar-coated churro, you can buy one on your own."

"Sweet!" Greg laughed as he exited the room.

* * *

When Gwen Stokes-Dawes saw her daughter peering into the room, she told her sister, "We're being watched by a four year old spy who should be asleep."

"I'm gonna be five in July!" The happy-go-lucky girl skipped into the room, her smile wide and her long brown hair flowing. "Hi, Aunt Nancy!"

"Hiya, sugar." After pecking her niece on the cheek, the aunt said, "Your mama was just tellin' me you got a pretty new dress for Uncle Nicky's party."

"It's not a party," Kayla corrected her aunt, "it's a weddin', but Uncle Nicky's not marryin' a princess, he's marryin' a boy!"

Gwen smiled at her sister. "We figured we had to tell her ahead of time or she'd be yellin' 'where's the bride' in the middle of the ceremony. She was so taken with the idea that she's been havin' pretend boy weddings with her Ken dolls all week."

"I'll go get 'em!"

When her daughter bolted from the room, Gwen said, "You shoulda heard Kayla tellin' the sweet old ladies at the department store all about her uncle marryin' a boy. The looks we got…"

"I can only imagine." Nancy chuckled at the image of a four year old educating a gaggle of horrified church ladies on gay marriage. "I hope you paid cash so the sales clerk didn't see the Stokes name on your credit card. The last thing Mama and Daddy need is another family scandal."

"I've been usin' cash everywhere, because when a stranger sees 'Stokes' on my credit card they ask if I'm related to Charles Stokes, the sleazy politician who got caught havin' sex with a hooker in Vegas. I'm really tired of talkin' about that BS."

"Think how bad it is for poor Melanie as the sleazy politician's wife who publically forgave the bastard during a televised press conference. She's countin' the minutes to the next Dallas scandal, so people leave her alone. So is Daddy, because the reporters have stopped carin' about his opinions on Supreme Court decisions, they just want his thoughts on his adulterous son running for office."

"I still can't believe Chuck's legal team got him off the hook in Vegas, while his PR folks managed to salvage his campaign in Dallas."

"It's the age-old 'boys will be boys' mentality in this town." Still irked by the outcome, Nancy griped, "If a married female politician had been caught gettin' it on with a 21 year old boy toy, she would have been crucified as a whore and be out of a job, but our dashingly handsome jock brother gets to keep his job, his family, and his campaign."

"Speakin' of boys will be boys." Gwen pointed to her returning daughter.

Waving her tuxedo-clad Ken dolls, petite Kayla excitedly told her aunt, "Mama said there's gonna be two boys on top of the weddin' cake!"

"I guess there will be, huh?" Nancy hadn't considered it.

"Did you know some boys kiss on the lips?"

"Yes, I did know that." Nancy changed the subject. "Hey, tell me all about your pretty new dress. What color is it?"

"It's a yellow princess dress, just like Belle's." The little girl spun arond. "When I do this, it goes in a biiiig circle."

"Are you excited about goin'?"

"Yep! I'm the only little kid in the family that's goin'. Mama said it's 'cause Uncle Nicky likes me best."

"Of course he does, sugar." Nancy knew the real reason was that Linda, Eileen and Chuck were boycotting the wedding and Marcia would be too pregnant to go.

Lifting her daughter into her arms, Gwen said, "She just found out yesterday that we're goin' to Disneyland the day after the weddin'. It's her birthday present."

"Yeah!" Her big brown eyes lighting up, Kayla told her aunt, "I get to meet Cinderella at her castle!"

* * *

"I want my picture with Prince Charming," Jenni announced from the back seat.

"Me too!" Greg told his sugared-up and giggling sisters. "I hear Tarzan is quite a stud too."

"I don't care about pictures," Cassie told her vacation mates, "All I care about is goin' on the fast rides."

"I'm with you, Cass," Nick assured her. "I've not been to the California Adventure part and that coaster looked real fun when we were checkin' out the website, and the Tower of Terror looks great too."

"I'm not doing that one." Jenni shook her head. "No way."

"Don't worry, sis." Handing over another Red Vine, Greg told her, "We'll split up for a few hours every afternoon and let the adrenaline junkies run around the park together. We'll need to give your legs a rest anyway, so we'll chill poolside and check out the cute boys together." When Nick shot him a look, he laughed, "Where's the fun in having a gay brother if you don't read fashion magazines together by the pool and scope out cute guys?"

* * *

"A girls weekend in Palm Springs is just what I needed." Lounging poolside in the moonlight with Wendy and Jacqui, Mandy lifted her tropical cocktail to her lips.

"Everyone thinks we're a trio of lesbians," Jacqui grumbled, "How am I going to get laid if every guy here thinks I'm a lesbian? Do you have any idea how dire my situation is? I'm officially the only person not getting laid at the lab now that Wendy is riding Hodges."

"I am not!" the DNA Tech screeched.

Ignoring her coworker's glare, Jacqui whined, "Bobby D snagged himself a hot young stud, why can't I? What karmic burden am I carrying around from a previous life that keeps me from getting laid?"

Wendy laughed into her cosmopolitan. "I can't speak to your karmic burden, but you can blame Mandy for you not getting lucky this weekend."

"For the tenth time, I'm sorry!" Mandy lowered her voice to a whisper, "I had no idea this place was a gay resort until after we checked in."

Jacqui wasn't buying it. "I think she purposely made the reservation here so Henry wouldn't worry that she'd get picked up poolside."

"Me too," Wendy slurred into her 5th drink. "How many times has Prince Henry called her anyway?"

Jacqui snickered into her margarita glass, "One less time than Prince Hodges has called you, Wendykins."

"For the last time, Hodges is calling with work stuff."

"Surrrrrrre," the skeptical co-workers sang out.

"I'm not lying!" Wendy blushed red. "How many times do I have to tell you, there's nothing going on between us?"

* * *

"Simms and I started sucking face two weeks ago," Hodges confessed to Henry as they drove toward Palm Springs to spy on their women. "Last weekend we went to second base."

"I knew it!" Henry smacked his hand on the steering wheel while accelerating. "I saw Wendy going into the supply closet with two buttons open on her blouse, but when she exited, she had _three _buttons open. A minute later you left the closet looking smug…well…smugger than usual."

"We've decided to take things slow, like mature adults."

"She said no when you asked her to sleep with you, huh?"

"I thought for sure she'd say yes!" Hodges gripped his head with both hands. "I did everything by the book...flowers, candlelight, romantic dinner, but when we stumbled into my bedroom making out, she got cold feet."

"What kind of sheets did you have on the bed? I hope you didn't have those Partridge Family ones that you got off Ebay."

Hodges rolled his eyes. "It wasn't my sheets that made her bolt."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because she couldn't see them, my Return of the Jedi comforter was on top of the bed."

* * *

"Who knew bugs were such a popular bedding motif?" Sara waved her husband over to look at the baby supply catalog. "Ants, butterflies, dragonflies…"

"Cockroaches?"

"No," she laughed.

"I kind of had my heart set on a racing roaches theme." Picturing the décor in his head, he said, "Think Madagascars with blue, red, or green numbers painted on their backs and have them racing around a track. In the stands, the spectators would be all different types of bugs holding signs and boxes of popcorn."

"And what would we do if we have a girl?"

"Isn't obvious, Sara?" He joked, "If we have a girl, then we paint the roach racing numbers in pink, purple and fuchsia."

"Right." Laughing, she pointed to Page 43. "But I also like this for a girl."

"Ladybugs." A smile crested on his face as he dreamed of his daughter slumbering in the room as pictured.

"What do you think?"

"I love it." Tenderly stroking his wife's hair, he said, "But what I love most is seeing you get excited about the pregnancy. I'm really happy, Sara."

"Me too." She nodded. "Seeing the heartbeat made it so real."

"I felt the same way."

"And considering what happened with Mandy, it was comforting to hear the doctor say the odds of miscarriage are low once the sac is properly formed and the baby's heart is beating."

"I still don't want to tell anyone for a while."

"Me either." Sara smiled, "We'll just let people think I've gained weight from being home and depressed."

"Have you made a decision about work yet?" he asked, hoping she would decide to return to her old job. "You can't keep secretly working casefiles at home."

"I'm waiting for a sign, something that tells me it's time to go back to the lab. Until then, I don't know." She shifted her gaze to the catalog once more. "But I do know I definitely want this bedding if we have a daughter, because there's not an ounce of girly pink on it."

"What if our daughter turns out to be a girly girl?"

"Won't happen." Sara shivered from the thought, "We have geek DNA, so it's genetically impossible for us to churn out a giggly, shrieking, cheerleader type."

* * *

"Ooh! Our room is pretty too, Cassie! Yessss!" Jenni squealed with delight as she dropped onto the luxurious comforter. "This hotel is the most beautiful place I've **ever** been! That lobby was incredible!"

"I know! And the pool was so cool!" Hopped up on sugar and excitement, Cassie jumped on the bed. "I've always wanted to do this in a hotel!"

"I think they like it, Cletus." Greg watched his sisters giggling as they held hands and jumped up and down. "They would have liked Howard Johnson's just as much."

Nick laughed at the attempt to make him feel better. "A view of the freeway off ramp versus a view of the entire California Adventure Park, yeah, it's a real toss up." Standing in the middle of the room with Greg, he told the girls, "When we get back home, you better give Jan and Dave a great big thank you for spoilin' us rotten."

"We will!" they promised in between riotous giggles.

"I think that's enough jumpin', Cass," Nick warned. "You ate an awful lot of junk food on the drive."

"And it's late." Greg tapped his watch. "It's almost one. If you want to be at the park when it opens, you better hit the hay."

Cassie laughed, "Don't be such a dad, Greg!" She threw a pillow at him. "It's vacation! We're supposed to stay up late."

"She thinks I sound like a dad," Greg proudly told his partner. "Cool!" He pointed at the girls and practiced his authoritative dad voice. "Lights out in fifteen minutes or you'll be too tired to have fun tomorrow."

"Yeah, right." Jenni nailed her brother's face with a pillow. "You just want us to fall asleep so you and Nick can fool around."

"No, no that's not it," Nick shyly replied while tossing back the pillow. "This is a_ family_ vacation, and there are no 'adults only' activities planned." He hurried for the door. "Night, ladies.

"You mean princesses," Greg corrected his blushing husband.

"Good night," they giggled, before Jenni yelled, "we'll turn up the TV so we don't hear you fooling around!"

"They're onto us, Cletus." Shutting the door, Greg hummed the theme to It's a Small World.

"Don't even." Nick dropped onto the suite's living room couch and grabbed the remote.

"Let's order overpriced room service on my mommy's dime to teach her a lesson about interfering."

"I'm up for that." Nick grabbed the menu from the coffee table while his mischievous partner resumed humming. "Stop it."

"Admit it, that song makes you randy now."

"I think I'll have a cheeseburger."

"That's a yes." Greg stole a kiss. "How far we've come since our first hotel room together in Long Beach, huh?"

"Yeah." Smiling, Nick tossed the menu. "Remember our first kiss?"

"It's etched in my brain forever."

"It was hot," Nick smiled as the memory played in his head.

"Indeed it was." Recalling the details, Greg closed his eyes. "Mmm."

"_Sorry," Greg breathed out, before crashing his lips into Nick's and savoring the sweetness he had been dying to sample for years._

_Shocked by the advance, Nick broke the kiss and shoved his aggressor away. "What the hell, Sanders?!" Panting, he watched his buddy wipe his moist lips with the back of his hand. "I wasn't…" Lunging forward, he crushed his mouth against Greg's, kissing him with a ferocity that he'd never unleashed on a woman. "No," he growled when they finally came up for air. "This isn't…" But instead of finishing his protest, he smothered Greg's lips again, urging them open, and invading his eager partner's wet, hot mouth with a wild, grateful tongue and immediately setting a goal of exploring every inch. For a sin, it felt heavenly. _

_Pinned against the wall by Nick's muscular body while being devoured by his ravenous mouth, Greg loved the crazy swirl in his stomach. He loved being consumed. It was really happening, and it was surpassing every fantasy by a mile. "So good," he gasped when Nick's tongue momentarily retreated. One gulp of air and they were at it again. He knew there would be plenty of tender kisses later, but for now he let Nick attack his mouth with the savage intensity of a man who had stumbled upon water after wandering the desert parched for decades. _

"_Sorry," Nick breathed out when he finally relented. "I couldn't stop." _

"_Do you hear me complaining?" Greg sweetly replied as they panted in harmony._

"Remember our first shower?" Greg whispered during an Eskimo kiss.

"It'll always be one of the most erotic moments of my life." Nick could hear the water pinging against the shower curtain as he lost himself in the memory.

"Mine too." Greg let his mind transport him back to the Coast Hotel bathroom. "Mmm."

"_You okay?" Greg saw a dozen emotions simmering in his buddy's eyes. _

"_No. Yes. Yes and no…mostly no," Nick trembled as he stood in the steamy shower longing for his buddy to be so much more than a friend. "Just a kiss." _

_Greg complied, bringing their mouths together while keeping their bodies apart. "Like that?" _

_Nick answered with a nod and parted lips. "Again." _

_Hot water pelting their overheated flesh, tenderness quickly escalated into wet, sloppy kisses as they pawed each other's hair and drove their bodies into a mutual frenzy. _

_Suddenly Nick's panic returned, "I don't want to..." _

"_There are lots of other things," Greg panted before their mouths locked again._

_The devil on Nick's shoulder urged him to take hold of his willing partner, but the disgusted angel waving the King James Bible on the opposite shoulder kept him from following through on the desire. "I can't…and I don't want you to…" _

"_It's okay." Being the experienced one of the duo, Greg lovingly whispered in his vexed lover's ear, "We won't have to do anything; believe me, it'll just happen if you get a little closer." Remembering the exhilaration the first time he ever bumped up against another man, he was certain Nick would experience the same blinding loss of control. Weaving his fingers through his whimpering partner's hair he upped the intensity of their kisses while pressing their bodies together. "See what I mean?" _

"_Yes," Nick gulped and shut his eyes. It was like every locker room fantasy he had ever had, rolled up into one intense experience. Overwhelmed and overjoyed, he was quickly pushed to the edge. "G…" Fourteen glorious seconds after brushing his hips against another man's for the first time, with one hand gripping Greg's hair and the other clutching his arm hard enough to leave a mark, he experienced a level of ecstasy that no woman had ever been able to inspire. _

"I wonder what the shower is like in our bedroom," Greg stated with a glint in his eye.

"Let's…"

"Greg! Nick!" Jenni came bolting out of the bedroom. "Cassie just puked up red vines, Doritos, powdered donut holes and YooHoo while jumping on the bed!"

When his health-conscious husband shot him a look, Greg said, "Okay, you were right, I shouldn't have bought all that crap at the gas station."

"That's why you're cleanin' up the puke," Nick announced on his way to the bedroom. "Cass…" He heard heaving in the direction of the bathroom and hurried to find her. "Sweetie, do you need help?" He knelt beside her.

"I think that's all of it," she whimpered while flushing the toilet.

"Let's get you a wet towel, honey."

"I guess jumping on the bed after eating all that junk food was a bad idea."

"Yeah." Smiling, he wiped her face, "But you were havin' fun until ya puked, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Good." He winked, "Just go easy on the junk tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

"You didn't get any in your hair, but do wanna take a shower anyway?"

Shaking her head, she said, "But my mom always gave me crackers and Sprite to settle my stomach after." Suddenly missing her mother, Cassie's eyes filled with tears. "Saying that made me think of her."

"C'mere." He held her while she cried. ""Hey, G," Nick called into the bedroom, "can you check the mini bar for crackers and Sprite?"

"You bet!"

"I got your jammies," Jenni sweetly told her sister from the doorway. "And Greg had me call housekeeping while he stripped the bed. They told us to put everything in the hallway and they're bringing up new bedding and some stuff to make the room smell better."

"Good." Nick wiped Cassie's damp face. "Change into your jammies, sweetie, and then come out to the living room for crackers and Sprite. We'll snuggle on the couch if you can't sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

"Hey guys…" Greg stood in the bathroom doorway next to Jenni. "No Sprite or crackers in the mini bar, so I'm gonna head downstairs to the hotel store."

"Thanks." As Greg walked away, Nick said, "Pick her up a new toothbrush too, that way she can toss her old one after she uses it to get rid of her vomit breath."

* * *

"A guy who smelled like puke just tried to pick me up when I was coming back from the bathroom." While Wendy and Mandy laughed, Jacqui motioned to the bartender for another round. "The really sad thing is, I was going for it, but when I reached into my purse to get him breathmints, he realized I was a girl and said no thanks."

"That's it," Mandy slurred, "we have to get Jacqui laid this weekend, Wendy. If it's the last thing I do, I'm gettin' my karmically cursed fellow sister a man."

Wendy sympathized but pointed out the obvious, "Where are we going to find a straight man in this place?"

Overhearing the conversation, the lesbian bartender told the trio, "Who needs a man when the resort gift shop sells strap-ons? Think outside the box, ladies."

Shaking with laughter, Wendy asked her best friend, "Should we do rock, paper, scissors to see who's going to strap it on and do Jacqui?"

Mandy was too busy falling off her chair to answer.

"Okay, okay, I'll take one for Team Female." The bartender winked at the hard up woman gaping at her. "I'm off when this place closes in fifteen minutes."

* * *

"Good, it's open 24 hours." Greg breezed into the hotel store and over to the middle aged cashier who was leaning against the counter reading a romance novel. "Hi." He scanned her name tag. "Hi, Brenda, I have a little girl with a bad tummy ache upstairs, could you point me in the direction of crackers and…"

"Greg?"

Surprised to hear a woman say his name, he turned around.

"Oh my gosh, it really is you." She tucked her hair behind her ears as her pulse notched. "I don't believe it." She gaped at him, her blue eyes wide as saucers. "What a small world."

"Lacey…" Over a decade had passed and she was still obsessively tucking her silky blonde hair behind her ears. "I..." He hadn't seen his ex-fiancé since she left Stanford to marry the guy she had cheated on him with, his ex-friend Brian Ruggiero. "It's been…"

"Eleven years," she answered, quickly doing the math for him. "Wow…you look great." She was surprised to see him with a nice tan, great biceps, and a trendy haircut.

The gift shop cashier, a diehard soap opera fan, was grateful for the entertainment.

"You too," he replied, still in shock. "Your hair's a little shorter, but you look the same…you look great. Um…what are you doing here?"

"I'm on vacation."

"I guess that was a dumb question, huh? We're at Disneyland, of course you're on vacation."

When she heard his old endearing nervous laugh she clutched her room key like a security blanket. "My parents are treating the kids and me to a stay here. We all flew out from Minnesota this morning. This place is great."

"Isn't it?" He anxiously cleared his throat. "So um…you and Brian had kids." He had stopped checking up on her once she was married. "Good for you."

"Yeah." She smiled, "Two beautiful girls, Madison and Chelsea. And what about you?" She pointed to his left hand. "I see you got married and I heard you talking about a little girl with a tummy ache when you came in here. How many kids do you and your wife have?"

"Uh." Standing in the middle of the Disneyland gift shop, he remembered he had never gotten around to telling his ex-fiancé, the woman he almost married, that he was bi-sexual. "Actually Nicky and I don't have any kids yet, we just got married." He was grateful his lover had an ambiguous name. "The little girl with the tummy ache is my sister. It's a really cool story actually – I'm a Crime Scene Investigator back in Vegas and my parents adopted two orphans that my partner and I rescued on the job." He knew she'd assume 'partner' meant co-worker. "Cassie just turned 12 and Jenni is 14. Nicky and I brought them here for their first trip to Disneyland and Cassie overindulged on junk food and hurled when we got to our hotel suite."

"Poor thing."

"Yeah, so as much as I'd love to catch up, I better get those crackers and get back upstairs." He anxiously laughed, "I'd say we should meet for coffee tomorrow and finish catching up, but I wouldn't want Brian to think I'm trying to steal you back."

"We got divorced last year," she admitted. "I caught him in bed with his secretary. I know, you're gonna say I deserved it, right? I mean I cheated on you when we were engaged, so…"

"Ooh!" the cashier blurted, revealing that she was eavesdropping. "Sorry, but you're standing five feet away." When they glared at her, she huffed, "Go to a corner if you don't want me to hear your dirty laundry. Geez." She was happy to see a new customer walking into the store, so she could make an escape. "Can I help you, Sir?"

"I'm with him, thanks." Nick called out, "G!"

Greg whirled around and into a full fledged panic.

"What's takin' you so long?"

Lacey assumed the good looking man was a friend of Greg's.

Anxiety paralyzing him, Greg couldn't reply.

"I tried to call ya, but you left your phone in our bedroom." Nick glanced around the store. "I wanted you to get Cassie somethin' to cuddle. Maybe a Pooh bear, or do ya think she'd like somethin' else better?" When he didn't get an answer, he turned around. "Are you okay, G?" Seeing how pale his partner was, he said, "You look like you're gonna hurl too." He pressed his palm to Greg's cheek. "You feel clammy, honey. Shoot, maybe it wasn't the junk food, maybe we all got food poisoning from your mom's sandwiches." While tenderly stroking his spouse's ghostly face, he noticed a pretty blonde woman rudely staring at them. "Can I help ya with somethin', ma'am?"

Greg wanted to intervene, but words wouldn't come.

When the woman continued to obnoxiously gape, Nick huffed, "Yeah, we're gay. You can move along now."

While Lacey's gasp echoed in the store, Greg felt his knees give out.

"G!" Nick rushed to catch his fainting partner. "What the hell is going on?!"

The cashier raised her hand. "I think I know!"

* * *

**ANs:**

I hope you forgive me for putting the It's a Small World After All song in your head!

I've been waiting to write the Lacey and Greg moment for what seems like forever, so I was glad to finally get it typed out. I hope it was fun to be a fly on the wall in the gift shop.

I think Nick's sisters serve as the voices of some readers who are concerned over the co-parenting decision. I also wanted to clarify that Nick said yes to considering the idea and like Carrie said – he'd have to review the documentation and then they'd have to spend time together as couples for a few months to see if they're compatible. A few readers were thinking that Nick was going to fill a specimen jar in the next chapter because Carrie was emotional. She was emotional because Nick was the first guy who ever even considered the option after seeing the binder.

I know it's difficult sometimes to have patience when a story is a WIP and something happens in a chapter that really pisses you off. I appreciate everyone who is willing to give me a chance to unfold the story, but I also understand where the readers are coming from who said they will no longer be reading because they don't want Nick to donate and they're too pissed off to keep reading and find out if he really does or doesn't. It's a complicated storyline and it takes time to go through the options realistically. It's normal for couples to go back and forth on important decisions. I have a plan, but I'm not going to give away the ending even if someone threatens to quit reading unless I do. : )

Thanks to KJT for editing so quickly! And to my hubby and Veronica 10 for pre-reading the first half. I wrote the 2nd half so fast they didn't get a chance. It's amazing how fast I can write when I'm avoiding laundry and packing LOL

Thanks to everyone who left feedback, it really helped me, especially because the first few reviews made it clear that I hadn't been clear enough with a few points.

Next Chapter hopefully the weekend of the 11th, but I said that about this one so who knows! LOL I have 12 hours roundtrip in the car to type on my laptop.

**Maggs **


	34. Chapter 34: It's a Small World Part 2

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms. Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 34: It's a Small World After All – Part 2**

"Is he okay?" Lacey asked when she saw Greg's lifeless body.

"He fainted for some reason," Nick remarked while lowering his partner onto the ground.

"Here." Lacey handed over her powder blue hoodie. "Put that under his head."

Brenda, the gift shop cashier, explained, "He passed out from the stress."

"What stress?" Nick asked, feeling ten steps behind.

"We'll catch you up in a minute, handsome." Twisting open a water bottle, Brenda said, "Let's wake him up first." She doused the guy's pale face with cold water. "That's how they do it on my soaps."

"G..." Nick reached out to soothe his disorientated spouse. "Don't worry, you're okay."

"Why is my face wet?" Dazed and confused, Greg figured he had been sweating while asleep. "Dude, I was having this crazy dream that Lacey…"

"Lacey?" Nick glanced over at the very concerned stranger who had handed over her hoodie.

"Yep, that's her," the cashier pointed at the petite blonde woman. "Your gay husband's ex-fiancée who cheated on him with Brian. She didn't know her old boyfriend had switched teams until you spilled the beans. From the way she was smiling at McFainty here, I think she was hoping for a romantic reunion. I don't blame her, because he's cute and she's a lonely divorcee and mother of two." Speaking from personal experience, she sighed, "Trust me, when you're tired of sleeping single in a double you can't help but wonder about what might have been. But her dreams were shattered when Greg said he was happily married to _**Nicky**_, which she assumed was spelled with two k's and a heart dotted 'i' until you walked in and got all 'yeah, honey, we're gay, big deal'. But it really was a big deal to the woman who almost married a gentleman who prefers boys. " She smiled at the gaping ex-sweethearts. "It was a stunning reveal, totally worthy of a Friday cliffhanger on my soap."

"Is she right about all that, G?" Nick asked, while studying his partner's reaction.

"Ooh!" Brenda rushed to fill in one more blank. "I forgot to mention that Lacey's divorced because she caught Brian in bed with another woman, which seems like a big slice of karmic payback considering she did the same thing to Greg."

"She's right." Shaking like a leaf, Lacey said, "Greg…all these years I've felt terrible about what I did to you, but to find out that I made you hate women enough to turn **gay.**" She lifted a quivering hand to her mouth. "Oh my God!" Crying, she rushed out of the gift shop.

"Uh." Rising to his feet, Greg said, "I thought she was going to figure out I was with guys before I met her and blast me for not telling her. I didn't see the 'I made you gay' angle coming."

"Me either," Nick and the cashier harmoniously replied.

When both men shot her looks, Brenda decided to give them some privacy. "How about I get the crackers and Sprite you came for and let you talk? At this hour almost no one comes in here, so you should have some privacy."

"Thanks." Once they were alone, Nick asked with concern in his voice, "How do you feel about seein' Lacey?"

"I always thought I'd want to strangle her if I saw her again," Greg shrugged, "but it wasn't like that. Maybe if I wasn't thrilled with the way my life turned out, I'd feel differently."

"Really? 'Cause ya looked pretty emotional."

"Hell yeah, I was totally shocked to see her and before I could get my balance, you showed up and outted me. I never really thought about how I was marrying a woman without telling her I had been with guys."

"Yeah, okay," Nick joked, "but should I be worried about a soap opera worthy romantic reunion between you and cute little Lacey?"

"Hmm," Greg pretended to labor over the decision, "should I reunite with the lying bitch who stomped on my broken heart after shattering it in a million pieces **or** should I stick with a guy whose picture is in the dictionary next to the words loyalty, honesty and stud? Give me a minute."

"Take all the time you need," Nick joked, feeling confident that his partner would choose the right answer.

Greg replied with a smile. "I should send a gift basket to Lacey's room for dumping me and setting me on the path to meet you."

"Reminds me of a Rascal Flatts song."

"Bless the Broken Road!" Greg exclaimed, having heard it plenty of times.

"Very good, _Fan Boy_." Not concerned about his husband's Ex in the slightest, Nick returned to business. "Which stuffed animal should we get Cass?"

"If you buy her one then Jenni needs something too."

"Hey, how about those cute chipmunks over there? The bigger ones, 'cause I'm in the mood to spoil our girls."

"Me too." Greg turned around and tugged two from the display. "Definitely Chip for Jenni and Dale for Cassie."

"Why?"

"Because Dale is like Cassie, adventurous, free-spirited, while Chip is like Jenni, responsible and logical."

Never realizing there was a difference between the two cartoon chipmunks, Nick remarked, "I always thought they were exactly the same."

"No, besides the personality differences, Chip has a black nose, darker pelt, and one tooth, while Dale has a red nose, lighter fur, and gapped teeth. Starting with the Recue Rangers movie, they began to dress differently too. Dale in loud shirts and Chip in solids - reminds me of us."

"Yeah." Nick grinned at his partner, "I didn't know you were such a Disney expert."

"Oh, totally. Growing up we had an annual pass and came here all the time. I know everything there is to know about Disney and Disneyland."

"That knowledge will come in real handy when we're parents." After ten seconds of dreaming about their future as perfect daddies, Nick panicked, "I just remembered I told the girls I'd be right back. What if Cassie got sick again?"

"Way to go, Daddy-O." Chuckling, Greg walked to the counter with the two chipmunks in hand. " I'll pay, you go check on them."

* * *

"Checking in?" Quinn Drake, the 32 year old night shift desk clerk, ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair and puffed out his chest to look his best for the arriving guests.

"Yes." Henry handed over his credit card. "We have a reservation under Andrews." Just like they had done at several forensics conventions, the thrifty men decided to save money by sharing a room.

"Have you stayed with us before?" Quinn asked while sizing up the shorter one's bottoming potential.

"No, it's our first time," Hodges answered while nervously glancing around the empty lobby. "We heard about this place from friends." In reality, Henry had found out where the girls were going when he accidentally snooped near Mandy's sort of open desk drawer.

"Well then, welcome to Caliente Springs, gentlemen." Quinn smiled at the couple, who was obviously on the down-low. "I will personally guarantee that your _friends _didn't steer you wrong. I'm certain you'll both be very happy here, because we have a wide range of amenities and activities – a little something for everyone." He opened a resort map. "If you're in the mood to be social at this late hour," he highlighted the secluded fire pit pool area. "This is definitely the place to be. Or if you prefer a walk on the wild side," he highlighted the resort's famous half mile hike under the stars, "this trail is always full of surprises after sundown."

"We're not here to be social," Henry anxiously whispered, "we'll be keeping a **very **low profile." He couldn't tell him they were there to spy on their women. "Let's just say, if certain people saw us here, there would be consequences."

"I totally understand." Quinn had dealt with many closeted couples over the years. "Discretion is our middle name, so believe me, you have nothing to worry about, Mr. _Smith_."

Hodges and Henry laughed at the clerk's joke.

"Many guests choose to spend the majority of their time behind closed doors." Quinn handed over two key cards. "Since you're first timers on a special getaway, I'm going to upgrade you to a deluxe suite that just became available due to a last minute cancellation."

"That's awfully nice of you." Henry returned the man's sunny smile and warm gaze. "I never get upgraded at hotels or on planes, so you have no idea how much I appreciate the gesture."

"You can always show me," Quinn laughed, "I'll be at cocktail hour in the Peacock lounge tomorrow." Trying to up his odds, he said, "Did I mention there will be a gift basket full of goodies in your upgraded suite? The couple who was supposed to stay there had pre-ordered it and it's non-refundable."

Always one to appreciate free stuff, Hodges cheered, "It's my lucky day!"

* * *

Her night getting worse by the second, Lacey tiptoed to the gift shop entrance and stealthily peered inside.

"Don't worry, the coast is clear!" Brenda yelled when she caught Lacey trying to be sneaky. "Mr. and Mr. Happily Married left five minutes ago."

"I came back for my hoodie." Frazzled by the confrontation, Lacey had had considered sparing herself the embarrassment, but she was chilly in the air-conditioned buildings and too broke to buy a new sweatshirt. Staring at the floor, she walked up to the cashier. "I left it when…"

"It's right here." Brenda placed it on the counter. "If you didn't remember, I was going to bring it up to lost and found at the end of my shift at 6am."

"Thank you." Mortified about what the woman had overheard earlier, Lacey quietly said, "I want you to know that I'm really not a terrible person, I just did one really terrible thing…I didn't know how terrible, until I found myself on the receiving end of betrayal last year. Ever since then, I've been beating myself up over breaking Greg's heart. I've almost called him a hundred times to say how much I regret the choices I made. I guess bumping into him here has to be fate's way of saying I should have followed my heart and made the call."

"You don't have to explain."

"I wanted to, because I could tell by the way you were looking at me that you thought I was a horrible person."

_Shit!_ Afraid she would be reported to management for not making the woman's shopping experience magical, the paranoid Disney employee pushed out a princess-worthy smile and said, "Hey, everyone makes mistakes, Lacey." She silently praised herself for remembering to refer to the woman by name just like the nauseatingly giddy Disney customer service trainer had taught her during orientation. "It was eleven years ago in college, you were a kid. Don't be so hard on yourself." She hoped a hefty dose of compassion would compel the woman to remember her on a 'Magical Moments' customer service guest card.

"Easy for you to say." Lacey's eyes welled up again. "You're not the one who made a guy turn gay."

"You didn't make him gay, he's bisexual. I heard him say he fooled around with guys all the time and that you would have freaked if you had known."

"What?"

_Doh!_

"Greg was with guys **before **we broke up?!"

"Uh…" Brenda pointed to a SALE sign. "Did I mention that our watches are buy one get one free?"

"I can't believe he was going to marry me without mentioning he liked men!" She wondered how many guys he had been with before and during their relationship. "I feel sick."

Still striving for high customer service marks, Brenda said, "Look on the bright side, now that you know you were both keeping secrets from each other, maybe you can confront him and rid yourself of the guilt you've been lugging around for 11 years."

Ready to do just that, Lacey anxiously asked, "Did Greg charge his purchases to his room?"

"Yes."

"What was his room number?!"

"Sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you a guest's room number." When she saw her chances of a good customer service rating slipping away, she craftily said, "I can't tell you a guest's room number, but if you were to glance down at the counter and see it on the copy of the receipt that I hadn't put away yet, that would just be you being shifty."

* * *

While sneaking across the resort to rendezvous with Tami the lesbian bartender, Jacqui couldn't believe her eyes. _No way!_ The sight of Hodges and Henry joyously rushing to get inside a deluxe suite at a gay resort made her jaw drop. _When the straight cats are away, I guess the bisexual mice run off to play. _

When the guys slipped behind closed doors, she released the breath she had been holding. _Unbelievable!_ Recalling how Henry had been moping around and making Mandy feel bad about leaving him for a few days, Jacqui's blood boiled."What a two-faced liar! Just wait until I tell…" Remembering she had told her friends that she was too exhausted to watch a movie with them, Jacqui realized she couldn't rush back there and say 'guess who I just saw being duplicitous while I was sneaking out of my bedroom window!'

She knew what Grissom would say in a smug voice if he were there, _Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive._ "Now I'm not going to see any action either." Sighing, she took a seat on a nearby bench, she wondered what to do. _I thought I had drunk enough to handle anything about to come my way…not. _Thinking of her dear friend Mandy, who had just gottenover a miscarriage, she couldn't imagine telling her the guy she wanted to marry one day was in a hotel room getting his kicks with **Hodges** of all people. Jacqui gripped her head. "I think I'm gonna hurl."

* * *

"How's your tummy, sweetie?" Nick was stroking Cassie's hair as she lay on the couch with her head on his lap. "Do you want some more Sprite or crackers?"

"No, I feel much better." She followed up her answer with a lion-sized yawn. "But I'm really tired."

"Me too," Jenni said before breaking into an equally intense yawn..

"You should be." Sitting on the floor chomping an apple from the fruit basket his parents had ordered for their room, Greg reminded the girls, "You're usually in bed at this hour, not watching TV. You really should try to..." A knock on their hotel room door interrupted his attempt at responsible parenting. "Chow time! Cool, the room service is really fast in this place." He jumped to his feet and hustled to open the door. "Right this…"

"I can't believe you were going to marry me without ever mentioning you like to get **naked with** **guys**!" Lacey blasted her ex-fiancé, "Don't you think I had the right to know you were an active bisexualbefore you proposed?! I believed you when you told me you were **a virgin**! I can't believe I kissed a guy who had **a penis** in his…"

"Lacey! Are you insane?! You're shouting about private parts in a G-rated hotel and," Greg pointed toward the couch, "there are impressionable young ladies present! **Sisters **to be exact!"

"Oh! Oh my gosh!" When the normally responsible and conservative mother saw the wide-eyed girls staring at her, she felt horrible. "I'm so sorry. I'm very sorry, girls!" she contritely yelled into the suite. "I really think I'm losing it. Who am I kidding, I've been losing it for a year, tonight's just the final straw." Gripping her throbbing head, she said, "Seeing you after all this time had me reeling, but to find out you're," she whispered, "_gay_."

"Oh** that** word you whisper?" Greg rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable."

Cassie quietly asked the obvious questions, "Who is that crazy lady and what does bisexual mean?"

When Nick didn't reply, Jenni answered for him, "From the sound of things, I'm 99 sure the crazy lady is Greg's ex-fiancée, because Jan told me he used to be engaged to," she made air quotes, "a lying skank ho named Lacey who couldn't wait for sweet, innocent Greg to leave Stanford for his Papa Olaf's funeral so she could break her purity until marriage promise and jump into bed with a guy."

"Whoa." Cassie glared at the cheater. "That's so not cool. Poor Greg."

"Yeah." Jenni nodded. "And a bisexual is someone who enjoys getting physical with a boy or a girl."

"Oh." The twelve year old glanced up at Nick. "So I guess you're bisexual too then, not gay, because you went out on dates with girls before you were Greg's boyfriend, right?"

When Nick opted to cover his face instead of fielding the personal question, Jenni said, "No, Nick's totally gay, because he was dating girls while secretly wishing he could date boys instead. He couldn't admit he was gay, because he had been brainwashed by closed-minded rednecks to believe gay people are damned to burn in hell and he was terrified his evil father and brother would kill him if they found out he was lying about liking girls."

Surprised by the highly embarrassing, but accurate reply, Nick asked, "Who told you that?"

"Jan."

He sighed, "I should have known."

After waving Lacey inside and shutting the door, Greg walked over to the couch and quietly said, "Girls, can you give Nick and me a minute alone?"

"We need to go to bed anyway." Clutching her new stuffed chipmunk, Jenni stood and took Cassie's hand. "C'mon, sis, we'll talk more in the bedroom. Night."

"I'll be right in with a glass of Sprite for your bedside table, sweetie." Nick smiled at his pseudo-daughter. "Just give me a sec." When they were gone, he turned to Greg, "What's goin on? Why is she still here?"

Afraid Lacey would stalk him for the next three days, Greg whispered, "I think we need to clear the air, don't you?"

As much as he wanted to tell Lacey to hit the road, Nick reluctantly replied, "Yeah, yeah I do, because I don't want tension on our vacation and I hate to think her kids' trip will be ruined because their mom is an emotional wreck." His gut told him that Greg needed a serious amount of closure.

"See, this is why I love you, Cletus. You're the kind of guy who worries about kids you don't even know."

"I just figure divorce is hard on kids, so they've probably been through a lot and don't need their trip to Disneyland spoiled to boot."

"Yeah." Greg whispered, "It's too late to go for a walk and we can't talk in Lacey's suite because her parents and daughters are asleep, so I was thinking we could talk on the balcony if it's not too uncomfortable for you."

"People might have their balcony doors open, so if she's gonna be yellin' about penises, you don't want to be talkin' out there. Take her into the bedroom. I'll stay out here in the living room in case you or the girls need me…and to wait for room service." Nick shook his head. "Never thought I'd be tellin' ya to take your ex-fiancée to our bedroom."

"Me either." Greg leaned in and brushed his lips over Nick's. "I love you. I'll make this quick."

Seeing her ex-fiancé lovingly kiss a man made Lacey's jaw drop and her stomach churn.

"This way," Greg stated as he waved for his ex to follow him into the bedroom. "We can talk in here."

Staring at the sweet-faced teary-eyed woman who was wearing a powder-blue Cinderella hoodie and nervously tucking her hair behind her ears, it was hard for Nick to believe she was capable of the vicious betrayal he had heard about in great detail. "Try to stay calm, okay?"

* * *

When he heard Henry gasped a second time, Hodges stopped unpacking the booze they had brought from home, and ran into the bedroom to see what was wrong. "Don't tell me you saw a roach in here?!" he snapped. "For the price we're paying to stay here…"

"Lube," Henry blurted as he lifted the bottle from the complimentary welcome basket. "Astroglide."

"Free Astroglide!" Snatching the tube, Hodges suavely said, "I'm taking it, because I think we both know my future with Wendy 'Sex Kitten' Simms is going to be more adventurous than yours with Mandy 'I Want a Family' Webster. What else did they put in the basket?" He couldn't see it because his friend was standing gaped-mouth in front of it. "Any edible panties or nipple cream in there?"

"No, no edible panties…no girl stuff of any kind." Always one to get squicked out at the mention of gay sex, he meekly said, "There's something called 'Boy Butter', ten condoms, and a PSA note warning us to 'say no to barebacking'."

"What?"

Henry stepped aside to let his friend see the basket full of male on male romance supplies sitting next to a stack of brochures on 'Gay Palm Springs'. "We're not in Kansas anymore." He plucked a strand of purple beads from the basket and held them up for his speechless coworker to see. "At some point tonight, we must have taken a left turn over the rainbow." He pointed to the resort stationary and the words 'Voted Best Gay Resort in Palm Springs'. "That desk clerk thinks we're here for a secret weekend of red hot man love."

Remembering they were really there because their women had snuck off to the place, Hodges stammered, "But…but…"

"Yeah, the butt," Henry gulped as he stared at the beads and studied how they grew progressively larger. "That's where they put them." While staring at the largest bead, he spoke in an incredulous tone, "I don't get the appeal of stuffing these up there…or stuffing anything up there." He cringed and tried to hose off his mind's eye. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-gay people. Nick and Greg are great, they're my friends, my good friends." For the first time, he confessed his unease, "I've always felt uncomfortable when people talk about gay sex, and then after suffering through my first prostate exam recently…" Hoping he wasn't the only guy who got squeamish when thinking about gay sex, he said, "It's just seems like a really bad idea to me. I mean, if I was stuck in prison or on a deserted island, then maybe after a decade or so, I could close my eyes and give to another guy out of desperation, but to _volunteer _to do it in the free world? I don't get it." Dropping the beads onto the counter, he said, "Isn't it hard to imagine Nick..."

"No," Hodges replied, glaring at his friend, "because I don't spend my time thinking about Nick…"

"Hey!" Worried that he had blurted out his honest feelings in front of Hodges, a notorious blackmailer, Henry threatened his coworker, "If you tell Stokes my thoughts on butt love, I'll tell Wendy I caught you whacking off in the Lab bathroom with her LVPD Newsletter picture taped to the stall wall!"

"Is there a higher form of flattery for a woman?"

"Eww."

"Can you stop worrying about what Nick and Greg do behind close doors and focus on what's really important…Wendy, Mandy and Jacqui all came **here**, to the #1 Gay and Lesbian resort in Palm Springs. What does that tell you, genius?" Titillated by the news, Hodges rubbed his hands together, "When they said they were going away for a girls weekend, I had no idea there would be naked touching involved. Do you think they'll let us watch?" He glanced up and thought about his statement. "Would it be rude to ask Jacqui to sit one out and just let Mandy and Wendy get it on without her?"

A little late in putting two and two together, the troubled boyfriend screamed, "Mandy's a lesbian?! When was she going to tell me?!"

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about the gay thing." Lacey sat down in the brown velvet armchair in the corner of the bedroom and heatedly asked, "Were you going to tell me before our wedding night? I can't believe you lied to me!"

"I never lied to you about anything," he replied, taking a seat on the edge of the bed across from his ex.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No."

"You told me you were a virgin who had never gone further than second base."

"And I was telling the truth." Sensing she was still skeptical, he added, "I swear on my Nana Olaf's grave."

Knowing he worshipped his grandmother, she had to believe him, "Fine, but you didn't tell me that some of those trips to second base were with **guys**."

"Because you only asked **how far** I had gone, not who I fooled around with. You never gave me the names or genders of the people you kissed before me."

"Give me a break. It was wrong for you to keep your abnormal behavior from me and you know it." Closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples and prayed her pulsating headache would go away.

"Just because something is abnormal to you, doesn't mean it's abnormal to me." Selecting one of his fonder college memories, Greg shared, "One time I was in my dorm room working on a huge project with this guy Steve from my Physics class. The project was due the next morning and after a few hours of hard work I realized we still had a ton to do. I threw down my pencil and said my head was going to explode from the pressure. The next thing I knew, Steve was massaging the crotch of my 501s and saying 'Don't worry, I know how to relieve the pressure building in your head'."

Lacey stopped rubbing her temples, opened her eyes.

Grinning at the memory, he finished the story, "I laughed and said 'I was going to suggest we walk and get some pizza, but I like your idea much better'. After getting an A on our project, we decided to be 'study buddies with hand job privileges' for the rest of the semester. Does that seem abnormal to you?"

"Yes," she robotically replied. "Very."

"See, to me it's a really fun and perfectly normal freshman year memory."

"I'm sorry, but you won't be changing my mind." While tucking her hair behind her ears, she fidgeted in her chair. "Homosexuality isn't normal, Greg. If it was, then more than 10 percent of the population would be gay."

"And you're absolutely entitled to that opinion." He flippantly remarked, "Just like I'm entitled to think that an engaged woman screwing another guy in her fiancé's bed while wearing a purity ring is very **ab**normal." His rate of speech quickened, "Not to mention tacky, nasty, and classless."

"You could have caught AIDS from your pal Steve and infected me without me suspecting a thing! If that's not nasty, then I don't know what is!"

"I can't believe you're playing the AIDS card! And even worse, playing it **ignorantly!**" His patience giving out, he screamed, "I was giving hand jobs to a geeky college buddy, not recklessly barebacking my way through hardcore gay bars every weekend!"

"Are you trying to tell me that geeks can't catch AIDS?!"

"No, I'm saying **I **wasn't the one having risqué sex, **you were**! So if you were really afraid of catching something nasty, then you shouldn't have spread your legs for Ruggiero! That bastard saw more crabs in a year than a Red Lobster manager!" Pissed that she was shifting the focus away from her infidelity, he yelled, "Stop making up shit to try and make yourself look better! **I** wasn't cheating or breaking any promises when I fooled around with guys. **You** can't make the same claims, because **you** were screwing Ruggiero while we were** together**, not before you met me."

Anxious to bust him in a lie, she said, "Like I'm supposed to believe you're bisexual but didn't fool around with guys the whole time we were together. Give me a break! Or did you honestly think it wasn't cheating because they were men?!"

"What?!" He jumped to his feet. "I can't believe you have the nerve to come up here and pull that accusation out of your ass! What makes you think I was with guys when we were together?"

"The gift shop clerk told me you said you were fooling around with guys while we were engaged!"

Greg gaped at his ex. "You're putting me through the ringer because of something an eavesdropping shop clerk_ thought_ she heard me say? Well, nosy Brenda needs her hearing checked, because she missed the word **before**. I said I fooled around with guys** before** I met you." He shook his head. "I didn't touch anyone, male or female, after we got together, because I foolishly thought I was in a monogamous relationship."

"Do you swear on your Nana Olaf's grave that you weren't with guys when we were in a relationship?"

"Yes!" he answered without hesitation. "Just because I'm bisexual doesn't mean I crave men when I'm in a straight relationship. It doesn't work that way for me. Just like I'm not going to start sleeping with women because I married a man. All I need to feel satisfied is to be with someone who loves me."

"I know you wouldn't swear on your grandmother's grave if you were lying."

"Damn right I wouldn't," he barked while pacing the room.

Her hopes for an even score dashed, her self-loathing returned with a vengeance. "I really wanted the shop clerk to be right about you."

"I'm sure you did, because if I was scratching gay itches behind your back the whole time we were together, it wouldn't be a big deal that you slept with Brian."

"Exactly," she conceded, tears flooding her eyes.

"Sorry, but you're still the only cheater in the room." Stunned by her audacity, he couldn't stop glaring at her. "How could you even think I was putting on an act when I broke down the day I caught you?" Reliving the devastation, his voice grew choppy, "With all my heart, I believed you loved me. I believedyou were excited to wear my ring and that you really were counting the days until our wedding. I believed I was engaged to a beautiful, intelligent, sensitive young woman, and then I opened that door and saw you, my supposedly virginal fiancée, digging her nails into another man's back and realized I wasn't the luckiest guy on the planet, I was the biggest fool."

"Please…" she sobbed, "please believe me when I say I'm sorry."

"No."

"But I need you to believe me. I need…"

"You **need?** Awww! Poor Lacey needs something!" Her demands sparking his hostility, Greg shouted, "Well I **needed** a fiancée that didn't cheat on me! But life is full of disappointments! And you're crazy if you think I would give you anything when it's painfully obvious that you're **still** a lying, self-absorbed bitch who doesn't care about my feelings!" Looming over her, he raged, "Coming to my hotel room and calling me abnormal and a liar?! Well fuck you, Lacey! You can take your lame, overdue apology and stick it up your cheating ass, because this **normal**, **honest guy** doesn't **need** it!" Catching his angry reflection in the mirror, he knew he had to calm down. "Dammit," he breathed out while sliding down the bedroom wall to sit on the floor. "I'm on vacation. I'm supposed to having a great time with my husband and sisters." Disappointed in himself for losing control, he dropped his head into his hands. "I can't believe you're still hurting me…that I'm still letting you."

"You're right, I am a bitch," she cried, "I'm a self-absorbed bitch who once again thought of her own needs before yours. I'm a desperate, pathetic woman who came to your hotel room hoping to make myself feel better, but seeing how hurt you still are after all this time, I don't deserve to feel better, I deserve every wretched moment of my miserable life. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and Brian was the worst mistake of my life. If I could go back and do it all over again I would." Sobbing into her palms, she said, "I truly am sorry I cheated on you, not only because you're so hurt, but because my life would be infinitely better if I had married you."

Since he was already unnerved, Greg decided to finally ask the questions that still haunted him, "Why couldn't you just tell me you didn't want me anymore? All you had to do was pick up the phone and call me at my parents' house. You just had to call me and say you wanted to break off our engagement. You didn't even have to tell me why, you just had to tell me." Reliving the ordeal, tears pooled in his eyes. "It was surreal watching Brian zip up while you put my engagement ring on my desk. I can still hear that bastard laughing while you giddily told me that you couldn't help yourself because unlike me, Brian was a hot-blooded hunk who begged you to make love to him and wouldn't take no for an answer. I couldn't believe it was really happening. How did you go from loving me to hating me when I wasn't even there to piss you off?"

"Because it had nothing to do with you, Greg." Even though her explanation was as pathetic as her behavior, she knew she owed it to him. "I was the nerdy ugly duckling in high school, the girl who hid behind a microscope. I still felt that way when I got to Stanford, even after we fell in love. Then your friend Becca took me under her wing. She gave me that great makeover, remember? She bought me designer clothes and taught me how to do my hair and walk in heels. She took me to aerobics classic and got me toned up and bought me a miracle bra, so I didn't look like a scrawny pre-pubescent girl. But I never felt sexy with you."

His biggest fear surfacing, he asked, "Are you saying I was a horrible boyfriend who didn't make you feel good?"

"No, you were wonderful, you made me feel safe and loved and beautiful." Wishing she could go back in time, she said, "It's totally cliché, but," she felt a little dumber every time she admitted the truth, "I got turned on by a self-absorbed bad boy who treated me like crap. For some reason, Brian made me feel sexy and desired; my entire body reacted when he looked at me…he made me feel like the only person in a crowded room. That kind of attention from the 'big man on campus' went to my ego and libido and suddenly it didn't matter what my heart and head were telling me." She sorrowfully stated, "The day I got back from your grandfather's funeral, he invited me over to watch a movie and before I knew what happened, my purity ring had become obsolete."

"And so had I," Greg replied in a hollow voice. "I had no idea it started the day you got back." Knowing she had been deceiving him the entire time he was home made him feel like an even bigger dope.

"I wish I had stayed with you at your parents' house." Staring at the floor she let her tears drip onto her jeans. "Because in the five weeks you were gone, I became a completely different girl. I drank, smoked pot, skipped classes...I even let Brian videotape us having sex in your bed. In 35 days I went from being a sweet, virginal, straight-A student to a screwed up slut."

"And all that time we were talking on the phone every day and you were pretending to care about me, so you can add deviant liar to your credits." It killed him to think he had been so clueless. "Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to dump me than covering your lies daily?"

"I couldn't bring myself to break up with you when you sounded so lonely and needy."

"How noble of you." He rolled his glassy eyes, "But you had no problem cheating on me daily."

"It was like I was under a spell. I honestly would have done anything to keep Brian." She cursed herself for the millionth time. "The spell was broken when you walked in on us. I got consumed by my guilt and Brian dumped me because he said I wasn't fun anymore. I lost my scholarship because I had failed all my classes, and my parents refused to me send money because they were disgusted with my behavior. Then I found out I was pregnant."

"Yeah, well," he turned away to wipe his tears, "sex with an irresponsible pig tends to do that to a girl."

"Yeah," she sniffled, "Brian was a jerk about the pregnancy, he only married me because his parents told him they'd cut him off. They were Catholic and supported my decision not to have an abortion. In hindsight, even if I had to struggle, I would have been much better off as a single mom raising Maddie on my own."

"Nah, you wouldn't have been alone," Greg stated in disgust, "I was such a doormat, I'm sure I would have married you and agreed to raise Brian's kid while you busied yourself having sex with the postman and the pizza delivery guy in our marital bed."

The harsh words made her wince, but she couldn't deny their validity. "You weren't a doormat, Greg, you were a nice guy."

Just as he was about to say 'and where did that get me', he saw the glint of his wedding band and remembered how good he had it now. "I'm glad I didn't marry you, because I'm thrilled with the way my life turned out." His anger faded as quickly as it came. "I fell in love with my best friend, the guy patiently sitting in the next room, and I couldn't be happier. We bought a house together, adopted a dog, and we're about to start a family."

She sniffled, "I could tell from the worry on his face in the gift shop that he really cares about you."

"Yeah, he really does." Grateful for the way things turned out, he contentedly said, "Nick's everything you said you would be but weren't."

"People get what they deserve," the depressed woman replied as her tears ran out. "It's only fair that you got happiness and I got misery." Hoping her suffering would bring him peace, she shared, "After I caught Brian cheating on me and realized he had been doing it all along, I told him I wouldn't put up with it. He said okay and skipped off to Mexico with a 22 year old cocktail waitress and the inheritance money we had in savings from when his parents died. He left a ton of debt and credit card bills. I lost the house and my car. The girls and I will never see a dime of child support. I knew my parents would say 'I told you so', but when I couldn't afford to feed my girls, I swallowed my pride and asked them if we could come to Minnesota to live with them. They said yes for the kids' sake. This trip is on them, because they feel sorry their granddaughters have a deadbeat dad and a loser for a mom."

"I'll be honest," Greg met his ex's remorseful gaze, "no matter how depressing your life is right now, I can't feel sorry for you. I do feel really bad for your daughters though. In my line of work I deal with kids paying the price for their parents' bullshit every day and it breaks my heart."

"I tried so hard to keep my girls sheltered from our problems, but it's obviously impossible now that their father walked out. Seeing them smile and have fun when they got to the hotel today meant the world to me." Holding her throbbing head, she whimpered, "I tell myself everything happens for a reason, so I can only hope it will all work out and they'll be okay in the end."

Finally at peace with the past he asked, "Ever hear the Rascal Flatts song Bless the Broken Road?"

"Yeah," Lacey wiped her face with the sleeves of her hoodie, "I love that song."

"Well, you're a huge part of the broken road that led me to Nick, and for that reason," he took a cleansing breath and a leap of faith, "I'm going to believe you regret what you did, stop hating you, and accept your apology." Feeling a weight lift from his shoulders, he crossed the room and grabbed a tissue box from his nightstand. "We were young. You were confused. You've been punished enough." He handed over a clump of tissues. "I forgive you, Lacey."

Tucking her hair behind her ears, she stared at him with bleary eyes, "Really? Or are you just saying that so I'll get out of your hotel room and leave you alone?"

"I really mean it." He returned to his spot on the edge of the bed. "When I was in church last week I heard the pastor say that forgiveness is good for the soul. Being a Scientist, I like to test theories," he smiled, "so far my soul's feeling pretty good…much lighter." If forgiveness worked with Lacey, he planned on going to Demetrius James's grave to work on forgiving him and himself.

"Jan lets you go to church now?"

He reflexively chuckled. "Do you think I'm that much of a Mama's Boy? I'm 33, Jan can't tell me what to do anymore."

"I just remembered how she wouldn't let you go with me and my family on Christmas." Afraid of tweaking him she shut up.

"Did my close relationship with my mother make me seem like less of a man to you?"

After blowing her nose, she replied, "I really don't want to get you upset again."

"That's a yes," he sighed. "Looking back, I can see how someone assertive and masculine would have been tempting to you when you were engaged to a sexually neutral geek with an overprotective mommy. I just wish you would have told me to man up and cut the apron strings."

"I bet we could have worked things out if I had." She fought the urge to reach out and clasp his hand. "Sometimes I think about us and wonder what our life would be like today. Would we be happily married? Would we be living in that cool placee you dreamed of, the one with the really bitchen loft?

Thinking about his dad's concern over him giving up 'the bitchen loft' dream, Greg smiled. "It's not really practical for a family, so I opted for something a little more traditional."

"Yeah, what about kids? You were so excited about having them – two, because you hated being an only child. When your grandfather got sick, you started talking more and more about being a dad and carrying on your family's traditions."

"I really talked a lot about having kids?" he said, trying to remember the conversations.

"All the time," she replied, surprised he didn't remember. "Any time I'm at the pet store and see Habitrail stuff I think of how you wanted to build a huge system in our future house. You'd say 'all the other kids will have boring retrievers, but our children will be the king and queen of the Sanders' Habitrail Kingdom'. You were going to cut holes between all the rooms and have the Habitrail tubes running through them."

"I do remember that!" He burst into a smile. "You said we should exclude the kitchen and dining room, because some people might get squeamish if they saw rodent poop where food is handled."

"Yeah," she chuckled with him. "I still think I'm right about that."

"I guess I blocked all those kid conversations after our future together died."

She sadly said, "If I hadn't messed everything up, we could be happily married and bringing our own kids to Disneyland this weekend."

"Maybe." Not interested in playing 'what if' when his present life was perfect and his future bright, Greg stood up and smiled. "But there's no point in trying to guess, so let's put the past behind us and get out of here, because I have room service and a cowboy waiting in the next room and I want both."

Hiding her feelings for him, she nodded, "I should get back too." She followed him toward the door. "If my parents wake up they'll think I skipped town instead of going to the gift shop for a book and some Tylenol PM."

"All is well, Cletus!" Greg announced when he stepped into the living room. "We made up, but we didn't kiss."

"Fantastic on both counts." Relieved to see his spouse smiling, Nick stood to greet him with open arms. "And the good news is, you don't have to give me a recap, 'cause I heard 95 of what was said loud and clear."

"Oh God, how embarrassing." Lacey lowered her head and made a beeline for the door. "Thanks again for your compassion, Greg. Nice meeting you, Nick. If I don't see you around the resort, I hope you have a wonderful vacation and a very happy life together."

"Thanks!" Greg joyfully replied to his ex as she slipped out of the suite.

"I couldn't believe she played the AIDS card," Nick huffed. "She was the slut havin' dirty sex, not you."

"I know!" His heart still racing from the confrontation, Greg walked over to grab a small bottle of tequila from the mini bar. "That really pissed me off."

"It was hard to hear you in that much pain. I almost walked in there to kick her out a half dozen times. I didn't know you were still hurtin' that bad, honey."

"Me either." Greg twisted open the little bottle and gulped half of it. "Sorry, I know we said we were cutting back on drinking."

"I'll let you off on the 'ex fiancée showed up and stressed me out' clause."

"Thanks." The tense ex polished off the bottle and slapped it on the counter. "I promise I'll stop at two." He dove into the fridge for a second one.

"So how do you feel now that you got to confront your ex and finally get all that stuff off your chest?" Nick wrapped his arms around his partner's waist. "Hmm?"

"I'm so happy that if I wasn't already at Disneyland, I'd be making reservations." Greg's smile filled the room. "I got answers to my questions and except for some screaming and name calling, I think I handled myself pretty well."

"I think you handled yourself real well under the circumstances. I'm proud of you, honey." Nick caressed a kiss over his lover's lips. "And I'm thrilled you got the closure you needed."

"Yeah, all this time I thought I deserved to be shit on, that I had been a bad boyfriend, or not enough of a man, but there wasn't anything wrong with me. She said I made her feel loved, safe, and beautiful." Greg excitedly told his partner, "She said I was a great boyfriend."

"And how many times did I tell ya that? Two? Three **hundred**?" Nick swayed their bodies as they exchanged loving smiles. "You're a great catch." He returned for a slower, deeper kiss. "Lacey's loss is definitely my gain."

"I want a Habitrail," Greg blurted as his partner tried to kiss him again. "And I won't take no for an answer."

"Huh?"

"I love Chico and I'm really glad we adopted him, but I never wanted a retriever, he was your family pet fantasy. I always wanted a Habitrail Kingdom, but when you said you didn't want hamsters in the house, I quietly gave up my rodent dream."

"Oh." Feeling like he had strong-armed his mate, Nick placed his palm over his heart, "I'm really sorry, honey, I didn't know rodents were that important to you. When you didn't push the issue I figured you didn't care."

"I know." Greg breathed deep and shared what he learned, "After talking to Lacey about what went wrong, I realized that not getting what you need can hurt a relationship in the long run, even if you initially give something up because you wanted to make the other person happy." Feeling confident about his future, he gripped his partner's shoulders. "Am I glowing? It feels like I'm glowing. All it took was Lacey reminding me that I always wanted two. I want two, Cletus! I totally remember how we used to talk about the future and what I wanted to do with them…the games I wanted to play, the fun things we'd do on the weekends. I can't believe I suppressed all of that until right now."

Desperate to keep his spouse happy, Nick pushed beyond his fear of beady eyes, long creepy tails, and hideous rodent feet. "We'll go to Petsmart as soon as we get home and get you those two rodents you've always dreamed about and next weekend we'll play games with 'em and whatever else you always wanted to do with 'em."

"Not two rodents, two kids." Greg burst out laughing. "I used to dream about having two **kids**. Me, the guy who has been waffling on wanting kids all this time. Lacey reminded me that I used to talk about being a dad and doing all the stuff that my Papa Olaf did with me and carrying on family traditions. I guess when I got hurt and lost faith in my ability to be a good boyfriend and husband, I blocked the desire to be a father in case I never got the chance." He raised his mini liquor bottle as his excitement soared, "I'm going to have the Habitrail Kingdom of my dreams, and one day…kids!"

"As long as I don't have to touch the creepy little bastards, I'm behind your dream 100 percent."

"You're referring to the hamsters, right? Not our kids."

"Ha! I love you." Nick snatched the kiss that he'd been denied earlier. "And I have to say, I think it's great that you're speakin' up and assertin' yourself…over a _Habitrail,_ tough guy."

"Yeah, the 'rents will be happy to hear I put my foot down and demanded my husband give me hamsters." Laughing, Greg hugged his rodent-loathing spouse. "I really appreciate you manning up and agreeing to face your fear of palm-sized furry creatures."

"It could be worse. I could be married to Griss and really sufferin'."

"Because of the geriatric sex?"

"No," Nick shivered, "because he'd have me surrounded by ant farms."

* * *

"Isn't it bad luck to buy an ant farm for the baby before it's born?" Sara joked, when she saw her husband perusing them online. Standing in the doorway wearing one his big grey t-shirts, she sweetly said, "I think the rule is you have to wait until I'm at least eight months pregnant."

Staring at the computer screen reading the pros and cons of each model, Gil replied, "Who said it's for the baby? It's for me, so I can practice before the baby arrives."

"I would have thought you could raise ants in your sleep by now."

"I'm rusty. I haven't touched an ant farm since Catherine brought Lindsay to the lab for cake and a little party in the breakroom on her 5th birthday. I gave her the basic model."

"Lindsay doesn't strike me as an ant farm kind of girl."

"She wasn't." Gil chuckled, "Nicky and I had a blast with it though."

"I doubt Nick will be buying an ant farm for his kids."

"Why?"

Sara stared in disbelief, "I was thinking that little mishap in the coffin where he almost got eaten alive by ants, might make him hate them now."

"That's not very logical." Gil glanced up from the computer. "They didn't hate him, they were only being ants and doing what ants do."

"Suddenly I'm reminded of the time you asked an exterminator how he sleeps at night." Shaking her head, Sara leaned against the wall and took a bite of the apple she was holding.

"They wipe out entire populations and sleep like babies."

"Shocking." After another bite, Sara said, "I know it's hard to believe, but most people hate bugs to begin with and if they get stung, they fear them going forward. I don't think too many Psychologists would fault Nick for disliking ants after getting viciously bitten by thousands of them. I think only you and you fellow bug freaks would be able to forgive ant-kind after experiencing something like that."

"And yet mankind kills a billion ants a day and no one gets pissed off." He shook his head. "Talk about a double standard."

Sara teased, "You're adorable when you're in bug snob mode."

"Thank you, but I was hoping you'd say I was sexy." Gil reached for a yellow rose from the vase on the counter and walked to meet his wife. Bringing the beautiful blossom to her nose, he elegantly recited, "How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour, and gather honey all the day from every opening flower." He brushed a kiss over his wife's lips and murmured, "Flowers need bees, the world needs flowers, and I need you."

Swooning from the unexpected romance, Sara waved her hand in front of her face, "Is it hot in here or is it the pregnancy hormones?"

"Am I sexy yet?"

"I think you overshot sexy, Romeo. You're a bonafide romance god." Unable to think of a poem, she offered her bitten apple. "Want a bite?"

"Tempting me with forbidden fruit?"

"Yes," she laughed, "because I'm pretty sure this big baggie t-shirt isn't doing much for you."

"That depends." As his hands drifted south, he nibbled her ear. "Is there anything under the t-shirt?"

"That's for you to find out." Grinning, she backed out of his arms. "I just remembered I have to do some online shopping. When I'm done, I'll freshen up and summon you to the bedroom to service me."

"I hope you're shopping for something I'll enjoy."

"Definitely." To further the intrigue, Sara gave a hint, "It's furry."

* * *

"It's a Syrian hamster," Greg informed his partner as they lay in bed on their stomachs in front of his laptop. "That's the kind I want. How can you possibly think that cute little pink-nosed fluff ball is scary?"

"I'm okay when they're standin' still lookin' cute, it's their erratic movement that freaks me out." Rolling onto his side, Nick decided to share an embarrassing rodent anecdote with his spouse. "This past Christmas, I was at my brother's house for dinner and..."

"Hey, how does Christmas work with such a big family? Where do you celebrate?"

"My parents host Christmas Eve at the ranch and all my siblings come with their spouses and kids. My mom makes a big formal dinner and we eat before goin' to church, then we come back to the ranch for dessert and read the Night Before Christmas in front of the fireplace."

"Sounds very Norman Rockwell."

"Totally." Blocking the negative aspects of his family for a moment, Nick said, "All the little girls wear pretty dresses and the little boys have on Christmas sweaters and ties. They're all hopped up on sugar cookies and pumped for Santa comin' in the morning. It's cute as hell."

"I bet." Greg rolled onto his back to listen to the rest of the details.

Propping up on an elbow, Nick continued, "On Christmas morning everyone stays at their own home to open presents. My folks and I drive from house to house tryin' to catch as many kids openin' their stuff as we can. They all wake up at different times and live close together, so it works out pretty well. Christmas Day either my brother or my sister Nancy hosts dinner for my parents and me and whoever else isn't haven't dinner with their in-laws. Those two have the biggest houses and the most money, so that's how they ended up takin' turns." Swirling his fingers over the design on the front of Greg's t-shirt, he softened his voice, "The day after Christmas we all get together at the ranch again for brunch and to exchange family gifts. Because money is tight for some, us kids draw names so we only have to buy for one sibling, and then the cousins do the same, but there's still so many of us it takes forever to open everything. Outside of the sibling lottery, Nancy and Gwen always leave gifts for me for Christmas morning, so I have somethin' to open when my parents are givin' each other theirs. This year though…" He smiled at his spouse, "I won't need pity gifts from sisters, 'cause I'll have a husband puttin' gifts under the tree for me just like they do."

"I'll get you a few gifts. Unless you've been naughty," Greg laughed, "then I'll get you lots. Do your parents hang mistletoe in the entryway like mine do?"

"Usually, but they probably won't take a chance this year with queers around." Nick stole a kiss in case he missed an opportunity in December. "But hey, my dad said we could stay at the ranch whenever we're in Dallas and I never thought that would happen, so maybe there will be mistletoe."

"I can't wait to see where you grew up." Loving the tenderness they were sharing, Greg snuggled closer. "I'm so…" Interrupted by YOU'VE GOT MAIL blaring from his laptop, the moment was ruined.

"It's from Sara." Nick was surprised to see her email address on the screen. "She's alive."

"You had doubts?"

"If anyone is capable of makin' someone disappear without a trace, it would be Griss."

"True." Greg clicked open the email and read it out loud. "A little buggie told me you're on vacation in Disneyland. Could you do me a huge favor and buy a coonskin cap in Frontierland? I want to surprise Grissom with it for personal reasons – no, not sexual reasons, perv. Thanks, and I'm sorry I haven't returned your calls, tell Nick I said that goes for him too. I'm okay, really, thanks for caring. I'm just not ready to walk through the doors yet. Maybe lunch next week? Sara."

"That's good news." Nick was relieved to know his friend was on the mend.

"Yeah, if she's up to Davey Crockett role play with Griss then she can't be too depressed."

* * *

Spiraling a little further into despair with each passing minute, Lacey padded over to the mini bar, hoping to numb herself with a cocktail. "Dammit!" she blurted when two glass tumblers fell to the floor and shattered against each other. "I can't even make a drink without messing up."

The jagged shards scattered on the floor reminding her of her broken life, she muttered, "How symbolic," as she crouched down to pick up the pieces. "God, my mother is right, I'm nothing but trouble. I should have let them take the girls without me."

Tears filled her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that week.

"If I stayed home, then I wouldn't have bumped into Greg." For a split second in the gift shop, she actually thought they had a shot at a second chance. _He looked so good. And he's still so sweet. A_ happy reunion would have ended her present misery, "Why did he have to be married?" She was in too much pain to realize she was squeezing a long shard of glass. "It would have been perfect." Then in the bedroom when they were talking, she thought she saw a flicker of love in his eyes. _When we were talking about our old dreams, about wanting kids, a house and a Habitrail._ "Maybe there's still…"

When she finally noticed blood was seeping from her hand, she gasped and opened her clenched palm. "Oh my God."

The cut was deep, extending past her hand into her wrist. It would definitely require stitches, maybe a dozen or more. "I can't believe I…" Watching the blood streaming from her hand she opened her mouth to call for help, but the word stuck in her throat. Could anyone really help her? Even if they fixed her hand at the hospital, she'd still be broken.

Staring at the blood pooling on the carpet, she knew her mother would drone on about carelessness and more bad choices. _Why were you drinking alcohol at this hour anyway?_ She could already hear her father saying his favorite phrase 'Brian must have really screwed your brains out that day, Lacey Jean, because you've been stupid ever since'. She dreaded the lectures. She dreaded hearing the truth yet again.

Staring at a watercolor painting of Cinderella's castle hanging on the wall, she whispered, "I had my chance." Feeling woozy, she clamped her eyes shut. "I don't deserve a happy ending."

* * *

**ANs:**

Will Lacey die? The story is happening at Disneyland and Disney is notorious for offing parents – Bambi anyone? But even though Lacey feels like she doesn't deserve a happy ending, if we all clap our hands she might survive anyway (that's a Peter Pan reference for non Disney fans. That's how they save Tinkerbell's life)

There was a lot of speculation about Greg fainting and why he didn't tell the truth immediately. I never intended for Greg to appear ashamed of being gay or Nick or that he was keeping options open with Lacey. In my mind, he was just totally thrown and was stalling while trying to decide how to tell the truth or if he even wanted her to know much about his personal life, because he didn't want her to feel like she was still his friend. In this chapter I definitely didn't want to write Nick as worried or doubtful of his marriage at all. He has complete faith in Greg and their love. And while Greg had a lot of emotion, I hope it's clear that he is absolutely happy where he is and how his life turned out…or will be once he has a Habitrail LOL

The appearance of Lacey is to help bring things to the surface for Greg. For instance, she reminded him that he did have certain desires and he hasn't shared them all with Nick. She reminded him of how he wanted to be a dad and that he actually used to speak confidently about it. By the end of the Disney trip, Greg will have very clear thoughts on fatherhood.

Henry's discomfort with gay situations was inspired by a flippant remark his character made in an episode. I don't remember which one, but it struck me as him being tense and trying to be cool or he said it 'to be one of the boys' but Nick (or was it Greg) wasn't amused. Compared to Hodges in Bull who was telling Catherine that he cried during Brokeback Mountain. In real life there are plenty of people who get very uncomfortable when gay sex is mentioned, Henry is one of those people to keep things real.

My love of kooky misunderstandings can be traced back to watching Three's Company when I was too young to even get most of the jokes LOL

Thanks to everyone who emailed and left feedback while I was on vacation. It was awesome to see that the chapter went over so well! Especially after I had a few more people tell me they had to quit reading because they weren't happy with something not going the way they want it to go in the story. I needed the encouragement! I know it's hard to wait and see if something will change when there is a lot of time in between chapters. Thanks for sticking it out : D

Maggs


	35. Chapter 35: Yo Ho, Yo Ho

The Day Before You

**The Day Before You**

**Written by: Ms. Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 35: Yo Ho, Yo Ho…**

When The Mickey Mouse Club song blared in his ear, Nick reflexively reached for the alarm clock on his nightstand. "Mmm," he groaned, his eyes still clamped shut. "That's you singin', isn't it, G?" He opened his right eye to confirm his suspicions.

"Rise and shine, Cletus!" Proudly sporting a shiny new pair of Minnie Mouse ears, Greg straddled his groggy spouse's hips. "The California Adventure Park rope drop is at 10 a.m., that's one hour from now." They had planned on touring that park all day Saturday, The Magic Kingdom all day Sunday, and then they would do their favorite things one more time on Monday.

"Are those Minnie Mouse ears on your head?" Nick asked before yawning a third time.

"Yeah, I bought them last night when I paid for the girls' chipmunks. And I bought these for you." The goofball produced a pair of Mickey ears. "Up for a little mouseplay?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Now I know why you got me up an hour before rope drop instead of lettin' me sleep an extra 30 minutes." Nick shook his head. "I'm not wearin' ears and did you forget that we said no foolin' around when we're responsible for the girls?"

"I decided that decision was unrealistic and unnecessary, because parents don't stop fooling around when they have kids and we need to practice sneaking action without our kids knowing."

"You woke up with wood, huh?"

"Yeah." Laughing, Greg crashed onto the covers next to his partner. "I had another naughty Disney dream. This time we were on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. You were dressed as Jack Sparrow and plundering my booty while you drank grog and sang '_Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirate's Life for M_e'."

Cracking the first of what he knew would be many smiles that day, Nick said, "I like that a whole lot better than the creepy Small World dolls watchin' us get it on."

"I figured you would." Greg snickered, "I said wood."

Gliding his hand over the tented front of his partner's blue plaid pajama bottoms, Nick playfully remarked, "Who knew Minnie Mouse was a trannie?"

"There are many secrets in the wonderful world of Disney."

"Are you guys awake?!" Jenni's voice boomed through the bedroom door.

Nick bolted up in bed. "Just woke up!"

"Rope drop in one hour!" Cassie yelled. "So finish fooling around and hit the shower!" She laughed, "Jan called and told us to bang on the door and say that."

"Of course she did," Nick grumbled. "We'll be out in thirty minutes, girls! Call room service and order two Denver omelet platters and you can have anything you want, and I do mean anything!" Turning to his partner, he mumbled, "It's fun spending your meddling mommy's money."

"I've always thought so." Tossing his pajama bottoms, Greg said, "So I can have anything I want, huh?"

"I was talkin' to the girls when I said that." Nick followed his perpetually randy spouse into the shower. "But lucky for you, I'm in a generous mood."

* * *

"I can't believe you made this huge breakfast for me." Standing in the kitchen doorway, Bobby surveyed the table. "Eggs, potatoes, sausage and biscuits…wow. So this is why you wanted to know exactly when I'd be home from shift?"

"Yeah," the proud boyfriend replied with a wink. "I wanted to do somethin' special to say thanks for the key and the invitation. I decided to take you up on the offer, so I put my stuff in the bedroom while you were at work."

The slice of sorely missed domesticity had been enough of a treat, but to hear his boyfriend say he moved in made his heart soar. "Really?" It was too good to believe without confirmation.

"Really."

"Does this mean…"

"Let me put it this way, Stokes men make cheddar omelets for lovers the morning after, but we only make grandma's special biscuits for significant others." Grinning, the younger man added, "It means I'm all yours, every piece of me…only yours."

Finding himself speechless, Bobby replied with a glorious kiss that screamed 'thank you for making my dreams come true'.

* * *

"I was skeptical when they said it was the year of a million dreams here at Disneyland." Turning off the shower, Greg snickered, "But I'm a believer now."

Still feeling dirty in spite of showering, Nick covered his face. "I can't believe I just did that with the girls in the next room. Honestly, I can't believe I did that period."

"You seemed really into it."

"I was at the time, but not now that I'm remembering the girls are in the next room and I'm gonna have to go out there and eat breakfast with 'em." Leaning against the wet tile, he sheepishly confessed, "It's stupid, but I feel weird about it."

"Because you grew up believing your parents only had quiet sex seven times."

"Until puberty I believed the stork dropped me off, and after that I figured they only did it when they went away for the weekend twice a year."

"After meeting your folks, you may be right." Greg laughed, "But rest assured, plenty of parents frolic in the shower when their kids are home and then eat breakfast with them thirty minutes later. My friend Becca once told me that life gets really busy once you have kids, so lovin' on the fly becomes a survival tactic." After throwing a towel at his spouse, Greg wrapped one around his waist and walked over to the sink to shave. "As long as we don't get loud like my parents, we're fine. It's listening to the parental freak show that traumatizes kids for life."

"Maybe that explains why you come up with these freaky requests."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that freaky."

"Not by Vegas standards, but we're in Disneyland."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Shake it off, cowboy. You're not going to burn in hell for…"

"Don't say it." Nick laughed at himself. "Don't." Changing the subject, he asked, "Why are you shavin'? We're on vacation. Who shaves on vacation?"

Staring at his partner, the shocked compulsive-shaver said, "We're not camping in the backwoods or partying at the Red Neck Yacht Club, Cletus, we're at Disneyland."

"Oh **now **you have Disney standards."

"You shaved when we vacationed on the Freyja."

"Only 'cause I was tryin' to get in your pants," Nick chuckled while reluctantly retrieving his electric razor from his duffle bag. "This is what I get for marryin' a city boy."

* * *

"I'm married to a work-a-holic." Sara tossed the cordless phone and checked her watch. "He's already been at the lab fourteen hours, Bruno." Knowing her husband's team had been down one CSI since she left, Sara told the dog, "If Ecklie would have let him fill my position instead of giving Days an extra person, this wouldn't be happening."

Determining that his owner wasn't talking about a treat or a walk, the boxer dropped his head onto a couch pillow and shut his eyes.

"You're tuning me out," she remarked, quite miffed. "Are you blaming me for him not being here?" Realizing she had not only become accustomed to conversing out loud with an animal, but arguing with one, Sara knew it was time to leave the house. "I'm going to the lab." She rose to her feet. "I'm going to tell Ecklie exactly what I think about his little plan to overwork my husband by not approving any new hires for nightshift. As an extra perk, he's probably hoping it ruins our marriage." She hurried to the bedroom to change her clothes. "If he thought I was a bitch before, just wait until he deals with me pregnant and hormonal."

* * *

"Do you think losing the baby made Mandy turn lesbian?" Sitting on the couch surrounded by empty mini liquor bottles and room service dishes, Henry slurred to his co-worker, "Have you ever heard of that happening?"

With one eye on his laptop and the other on an 'I Love Lucy' rerun, the sober scientist quipped, "Yes, there was just a huge article about it in last month's New England Journal of Medicine." But when he heard Henry cry, the usually cold-hearted man turned his full attention to his friend. "Sorry, I shouldn't have joked about that."

Bringing a tiny Cuervo bottle to his mouth, Henry lamented, "I've lost the love of my life to lesbians."

"Maybe it's just a curiosity thing," Hodges countered, trying to be a good friend. "Maybe losing the baby threw her into some kind of life crisis and she realized she didn't get to have a gay fling in college like everyone else, so she came here to do a little exploring and check something off her 'To Do Before I Die' list."

"I didn't have a gay fling in college, and it's not on my list."

"Duh." Hodges rolled his eyes. "You're a straight guy, like me, so your default taboo fantasy is to be with two women."

"Have you been with two women?" Henry asked, because he was too drunk to realize the absurdity of the question.

"Yeah, I crossed that one off in 1999."

Having a slightly lucid moment, the analytical Toxicologist probed, "Were the two women made of plastic and filled with air?"

"Do you know you have ketchup on your white shirt?" Hodges redirected, preying on the fastidious man's compulsion with clean apparel.

"My mother bought me this shirt." Henry shook his head at the unsightly stain. "Bummer. I love this shirt…and my mom…she's the only woman who hasn't hurt me."

"Give me the shirt, Oedipus." Hodges held out his hand. "I'll bring it to the front desk for emergency dry cleaning."

"It's 9:45 in the morning." Henry struggled to stand and remove his shirt. "What if someone sees you walking around the resort and thinks you're gay?"

"When a guy is as confident with his sexuality as I am, you don't care if other people think you're gay." Hodges puffed out his chest. "Besides, my gaydar factor is zero. I ooze 'I love boobs'. Everyone knows it's guys like you, who are always worried about being around gay men and being perceived as queer, that are masking latent homosexual urges and would fall into bed with a man if they ever got plastered enough to overcome their deep seeded inhibitions." With the shirt in hand, he strolled for the door. "After I drop off your shirt, I'm going to drive to McDonald's for some Egg McMuffins. This place is way too expensive for my taste."

* * *

"I can't believe that breakfast cost a hundred bucks." Stepping out of the elevator with Greg and the girls, Nick said, "When I was a kid, that was probably our family's daily food allowance on vacation and there were nine of us."

"Jan and Dave had more of a 'sky's the limit' vacation policy."

Cassie smiled at her hero. "Don't worry, my family was like yours, we went camping, cooked our own food, and my dad never shaved when we went on vacation."

Terrified that the child had heard everything that went on in the bathroom, Nick warily asked, "Did you hear Greg and me talkin' about shavin', honey?"

"No, you told me about your family vacations when we were at the lake, remember? You said your dad never shaved on vacation, because he always had to look perfect and wear stuffy suits while on the job."

"Yeah, yeah." Nick's smile returned. "I remember now." When he saw his spouse silently mocking him for being paranoid, he gave him a playful shove.

"Greg Sanders!" Margaret Jorgensen rushed across the lobby to warmly greet her daughter's ex-fiancé. "Lacey told us you were here."

"Hey! It's great to see you again," Greg enthusiastically replied, happy to see the woman who had treated him like the son she never had. "How are you?" He hugged her tight.

She replied in Norwegian for old time's sake, and reminded the boy that she had always loved his visits, because she could speak in her native-tongue.

As her brother and the lady conversed in the foreign language, Jenni whispered to Nick and Cassie, "Jan curses in Norwegian, I can tell by the way she says the words, but I don't know the translations. But at least I can tell you if this woman starts cursing at Greg like the last one did."

"I don't think she's gonna." Nick's confidence came from hearing Lacey say how her parents thought she was an idiot for dumping Greg. Then again, she could flip out upon hearing he was gay.

* * *

"My woman is a lesbian and I might be gay!" Henry drunkenly announced to the handful of men worshipping the sun at the resort's main pool. Shirtless and staggering, he asked, "Which one of you guys wants to help me find out if I'm gay?!

One glance at the pale, sunken-chested dork resulted in a chorus of 'no thanks' from the twenty-something bronzed gods.

Faced with rejection yet again, Henry clutched his head and dropped onto an empty lounge chair. "I'm not girl-worthy or gay-worthy. My mother was right, no one will ever love me like she does."

"I don't think you're gay," Matt Hawkins told the obviously drunk and depressed guy. "Do you think he's gay?" he asked his boyfriend, trying not to laugh.

"Definitely not," Dante replied after lowering his sunglasses to take a good look. "And I'd know, because I was a repressed gay in Utah for most of my life. I've only been out since 2005, so I'd be able to tell. So would my friend, here." He pointed to the guy next to him. "He was my mission buddy and even more repressed than me. What do you think, Ellis?"

Feeling bad for the poor sap, Dan Ellis stifled his laughter and said, "I'd guess effeminate Mama's Boy, not gay."

* * *

"I had convinced myself you were just a Mama's Boy, Greg," Gary Jorgensen told his daughter's ex-fiancé as they walked to the California Adventure park entrance. Lacey had caught him up to speed when they were sitting in the ER the previous night. "But I always had my suspicions that you could swing both ways." His silver hair flapping in the June breeze, he shook his head. "I certainly don't blame you for permanently switching teams after what my daughter did to you."

"How did Lacey cut herself?" Greg anxiously queried while watching his ex-fiancée's kids skipping to the front gate with his sisters and Nick.

"Being reckless as usual," the perpetually disappointed father huffed. Because of his daughter's stupidity, he had to take the grandkids to the park alone while Lacey slept and his wife fretted about her. "She dropped a glass and was distracted by the TV when she bent down to pick up the broken pieces. She's lucky I came out to get a water bottle from the fridge, because she passed out from the sight of her own blood. She ever do that around you?"

"Yeah," Greg answered, recalling the moment. "It's what brought us together. She cut herself in Chem Lab and I caught her as she fainted."

"You were always there for her, son." The troubled father sighed, "Unlike that bastard Ruggiero, you would have made an excellent husband and father."

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely, Margaret too, that poor woman cried every day for a year when Lacey broke off the engagement. She had already named her Norwegian grandchildren."

"Sir," Nick waved to get Mr. Jorgensen's attention. "Your little one here says she's tired of walking, I could put her on my shoulders until you get to the stroller rental if you'd like."

"Yes, please. My knees and back thank you!" The 66 year old arthritis sufferer smiled at the polite Texan.

"Up you go, Chelsea." Nick perched the petite five year old on his shoulders. "Better?"

Happy to have a view, the brunette pixie nodded. "I can see everything!"

"That's a very gentlemanly cowboy you got there, Greg, and better looking than either of those Brokeback Mountain boys."

Greg laughed, "Mrs. J still drags you to the movies, huh?"

"I bawled my eyes out at The Notebook, what about you?" The senior citizen joked, "Of course you did, you're gay."

* * *

"I can't handle the crying," Matt told Dante. "That guy's a hot mess. He's like prime to jump off a cliff or drown himself in a pool."

"Of his own tears," Todd Stanton, the ringleader of the group of Vegas boys at play for the weekend, burst out laughing. "I say we deliver him to Doug's door with a sign taped to his pasty chest that says 'Kiss me, I'm sexually confused'. Doug never refuses a stray. He'll set him straight by giving him a biiiig helping of gay."

"Guys, we can't be that cruel," said Dan, the voice of reason and maturity for the group. "That geek doesn't need a walk on the wild side, he needs a makeover and a spray tan."

* * *

"Who needs sunscreen?" Greg asked waving the can of Coppertone Sport he had purchased after Mr. Jorgensen said he forgot to have his wife coat the girls. "Anyone with Scandinavian DNA, that's who." He pointed at Chelsea. "That means you, Tinkerbell."

"That's not what my mommy uses." The girl shook her head. "No way. I want the pink tube."

"Are you sure? Because this stuff is great, I use it all the time when I'm outside working." Kneeling down, he sprayed his forearm. "See it's fun, just like spray paint. You try it."

Watching the paternal moment made Nick's biological clock thump. "Chelsea, honey, you should," Greg's scream interrupted his sentence, "lower the can or you'll squirt him in the eyes."

"Tinkerbell maced my left eyeball!" Greg frantically waved his outstretched hand. "Water bottle, stat!"

"Here!" Jenni handed over hers. "Good emergency eye wash technique," she joked while watching her brother rinse, "but I'd expect nothing less from a fellow science geek."

Nick offered his spouse a parenting tip, "Never give a munchkin a spray can of anything. It never turns out well, especially if it's a can of Cheez-Whiz." He shivered at the memory. "I was babysittin' Roy when he was five and he used it to wash his dog and then he let the mutt run through the entire house."

The story not adding up to logical Jenni, she asked, "How did he do all that if you were babysitting him properly?"

"Oh, um…" Since he couldn't give the real answer, 'I was in bathroom getting it on with Claire Winslow', Nick announced, "The park is open", hoping to divert attention.

"I wanna go to Bug Land!" Chelsea shouted, jumping up and down. "Mommy said that was first!"

"Uh…" Knowing his spouse's hatred of creepy crawlies, Greg said to Mr. Jorgensen, "If you're okay now that you have the stroller, we're gonna take Jenni and Cassie to Soarin' Over California."

"Yes, yes, we'll be fine now." Gary smiled at the man he wished was his son-in-law. "It was nice seeing you again and meeting your family. Go have fun."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Henry asked the gay stranger as they approached the resort's salon and spa.

"Ever watch Queer Eye?" Dante asked the jittery nerd.

"Um," Henry gulped, "no. I rarely watch porn actually. Okay never."

"It's a makeover show, Hank."

"It's Henry."

"Not anymore. Hank is your new Ladies Man name." Dante opened the salon door. "Anyone up for a style challenge?!"

* * *

"I love what you've done with the place," Sara commented from her husband's office door. There had to be twice as many files and piles of paper as the day she left the lab.

"Sara?" Gil lowered his glasses to make sure. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to bitch at Ecklie for not letting you fill my spot."

"Oh." He gulped, knowing he was toast. "This is about your resignation paperwork…"

"Yeah, about that." She shut the door and walked to the guest chairs shaking her head. "Care to tell me how my resignation paperwork morphed into Leave of Absence paperwork, Sherlock?"

"I bet Nick did it." Gil feigned innocence. "Or Greg. Maybe Catherine."

"Catherine?"

"I should have stopped at Greg."

"You should have turned in my resignation paperwork."

"I…I um…" He nervously ran his hand over his mouth, "I guess I was hoping…"

"Hoping what, Gilbert? That I'd walk in here and do this?" With her eyes honed on her husband, Sara reached into her pocket for her ID badge and clipped it on her pants pocket.

"Yes, that's exactly what I've been dreaming about since the day you left." Rising to his feet, the ecstatic husband and supervisor extended his hand. "Welcome back, CSI Sidle. The lab has missed you."

"The lab missed me?"

"Yes, very much." With a boyish grin, he allowed himself to have a personal moment on the job. "I've missed you too." Watching her grab a stack of files, his heart soared.

* * *

"You were right, Greg! Soarin' was awesome!" Cassie darted towards the exit. "Can we do it again?"

"The line will be a lot longer now."

"Not now, I want to get fastpasses for later."

"Congratulations!" a perky Disney employee called out to the exiting riders. "You're all about to receive Year of a Million Dreams Fastpasses, which will allow you one Fastpass entry for every Fastpass ride in both parks!"

When a big blue plastic pass was slapped in his hand, Greg said, "Cassie, next time wish out loud for a million bucks and see if you get that one granted."

"Why would I need a million dollars now that your parents adopted me? They give me anything I need."

"And that answer is one of many reasons why I love this kid." Nick tossed his arm around her shoulders as they walked.

The comment making her morning, Cassie said, "Thanks, Daddy-O," and took his hand.

Hearing the term of endearment tugged at Nick's heartstrings and in that moment he knew vacationing with Cassie was going to make him feel closer to her than ever. It had been difficult to spend an afternoon with her and then hand her back to Jan and Dave, so how hard would it be to walk away after four days together? And if it was that difficult with Cassie, how hard would it be to say goodbye to his biological child and return home empty handed?

"Are you going to answer?" Cassie tugged on her hero's arm. "Your cell phone is ringing."

Lost in thought, Nick stared blankly at the girl. "Huh?"

"Your cell phone's ringing."

"Oh." Still in a funk, he mindlessly answered, "Stokes."

* * *

"Nicky, honey, we have to talk." Nancy Stokes took a seat at her mahogany desk and commenced her opening argument with a prediction, "After readin' through everything you sent I believe if you go through with this baby sharing arrangement you'll regret it for the rest of your life and the suffering you'll endure while apart from your child will make your time in that coffin seem like a relaxing vacation. Everything about you screams 'hands-on daddy' not 'part-time father'. Think how bad you felt never gettin' to spend time with your own Daddy. That's what your child's gonna feel. Do you want your child to grow up thinkin' his or her daddy is too busy to be there all the time? I don't think so. If you ignore my opinion and choose to go through with this insanity, you'll have to find yourself another attorney, because it will be impossible for me to sit back and watch you ruin your life. I love ya too much, Nicky."

* * *

"I love you too, sis." Sitting on a bench watching Disneyland patrons hustle by on the way to their next ride, Nick said, "It's weird, I was kinda thinkin' the same thing when you called."

"That's music to my ears."

Smiling at Cassie, who was waiting in line for a churro, Nick said, "Bein' on vacation with Cass is remindin' me how hard it is to only see someone you love when their legal guardian agrees."

"Exactly. Imagine how it would feel to call up those women and hear 'sorry, today's not a good day for a visit, the baby is sick'. Wouldn't you want to be there makin' sure your sick baby was gettin' TLC and the right medicines?"

Sinking lower on the bench, he shook his head. "I never even thought of that scenario."

"That's why you have sisters, honey. I've been lookin' out for you since the day you were born and I don't plan on stoppin'."

* * *

"Stop! Please!" Tears streaming down his face, Henry pleaded with Helga, the burly waxer from hell, "I've had enough. I want to pay and go."

"I've only done the left side," she informed him in a thick German accent, "who leaves with half a crack and sac wax?"

"Me." Feeling completely sober, the wimpy Toxicologist slid off the spa table and gingerly trotted to the locker room.

"How was it?!" Dante excitedly asked his makeover client. "Great huh? You know what they say - once you wax, you can never go back."

"Yeah." Henry was positive he was never going back for more torture. "Well thanks for your help. Bye."

"You're only wearing a towel."

"Right." His left sac throbbing, Henry glanced around for his clothes. "Where are my…"

"We tossed them. Todd should be back with your new outfit any minute."

"You threw away the shirt my mother bought me?"

"About that…" Dante dropped a hand on the peewee's shoulder. "No one needs a mom to dress them when there are available queers."

* * *

"Greg do you like this t-shirt better or the red one?" Jenni held up the blue to get her big brother's opinion.

"Definitely the blue, it compliments your eyes." So Nick could have some privacy talking to his sister, Greg suggested the girls check out some of the shops. "Don't let me forget that I have to buy a coonskin cap in Frontierland when we get there."

"Are you going to be Davy Crockett for Halloween?" Jenni laughed as she walked toward the back of the shop. "I can't picture it!"

"Me either." Greg continued flipping through a rack of t-shirts, looking for something he'd actually wear. "My friend Sara wants the cap for unspecified sentimental reasons."

"Psst." Cassie tugged on her brother's sleeve. "Look, it's Mr. Jorgensen and his granddaughters out there on a bench."

Glancing up he saw a panting and frazzled man. "Whoa, he looks wiped and it's been less than an hour since they got here."

"We should help them again."

The idea of hanging out with his ex-fiancée's children, especially the one conceived during the big cheat, didn't have much appeal. "Honestly, it's really uncomfortable for me considering the circumstances, so I'd rather not." Since they had told the girls the dramatic story, he knew she'd understand his point of view.

Staring at the spoiled brat before her, Cassie said, "You know what's **really **uncomfortable, Greg? Waking up one day and finding out you don't have a daddy anymore. You're lucky you don't know what that's like, but I do, and so does that five year old girl. Look at her crying and ask yourself – what would Nick do?"

Before he could get over the verbal reality slap, Greg saw his partner rushing into the gift shop.

"Hey, G!" Nick pointed over his shoulder. "Mr. Jorgensen is out there lookin' wiped and little Chelsea is bawlin' her eyes out. I know it's a little awkward, but I think we should help 'em, don't you?"

"Yeah." Greg smiled at his precocious adopted sister. "I was just thinking the same thing."

* * *

"Nicky wasn't thinkin' it through," Nancy informed Gwen as they slid into a corner booth at The Squash Blossom café. "Twelve hours daddying Cassie at Disneyland was makin' him have second thoughts. By the end of the trip he'll think he was as nuts as we think he is."

"So you don't think he'll do the baby share?" Gwen asked, before lifting the glass of ice water a bus boy had just placed in front of her.

"I think the odds are greater that he'd play in a field of ant hills."

* * *

"Here we are, Chelsea…Bug World." Surveying the area, Greg laughed, "My friend Grissom would love this place. He's really into bugs." While Mr. Jorgensen rested at the hotel and Maddie went on thrill rides with Nick and Cassie, he and Jenni had volunteered to take the five year old wherever she wanted to go. "Heimlich's Chew Train first, right?"

"Yep."

"That way." Jenni, the self-appointed map navigator, pointed straight ahead. "It's in the back of this section."

"Let's go!" Chelsea grabbed her grandpa's friend's hand and tugged.

"Slow down, Gidget." Greg reminded her, "My sister can't run, remember? Her legs are still a little weak from being hurt."

"How did you hurt your legs?" the little girl asked, forgetting if she had been told.

"In a car accident."

"We don't like to talk about it though." To change the subject, Greg lifted the child and placed her on his shoulders like Nick had earlier. "You like this better than the stroller?"

"Strollers are for babies, I'm not a baby, I'm five." She placed her sticky palm in front of the man's face and wiggled all her fingers. "Five! Grandpa bought me a butterfly bike for my birthday. It's pink and yellow."

"Cool."

Jenni enjoyed watching her brother struggle to balance the girl on his shoulders. "You ever do that before, Greg?"

"No, can't say that I have." _And I never would have guessed that the first kid to ride on my shoulders would be my ex-fiancée's daughter!_ "Are you comfy, Chelsea?"

"Yep!" She giggled. "It's easy holding onto your ears, 'cause they stick out big."

_How cute, she insults me just like her father used to. _

"Look!" Jenni yelled. "It's Flik! He's posing for pictures. Do you want your picture with him, Chelsea?"

The girl's eyes lit. "Yeah!"

"Okay, down you go." Once his hands were free, Greg reached into his pocket for his Olympus Stylus camera. "You smile, I'll snap."

"We have to wait our turn though," Jenni cautioned the hyper girl. "Wow, you're bouncy like a Tigger, aren't you?"

"Yep! Look how high I can jump!"

When the girl landed squarely on a well-dressed grey-haired woman's sandaled foot, Greg rushed to apologize. "Sorry, I'm really sorry. I should have told her not to jump in line."

"It's okay," the 63 year old grandmother of five told the young father. "If a kid can't get excited at Disneyland, where can they get excited? Gosh, she's adorable; such a beautiful smile."

"It's her mother's smile," rolled off of Greg's tongue. _I can't believe I just said that!_ "Chelsea, say you're sorry to the nice lady for stepping on her toes."

"Sorry."

The grandmother smiled at the child. "You're very lucky to have such a nice daddy."

Chelsea merrily told the stranger the truth as she had overheard it many times, "My daddy is a deadbeat asshole who won't buy me shoes, 'cause he spends all his money on his slutty girlfriend."

When the woman turned to stare at him, Greg blurted, "I'm not her daddy! My sister and I are just watching her for her grandpa, who is an old family friend. I only met loose lips an hour ago." Kneeling down, he looked Chelsea in the eyes. "Did your mommy tell you to say that about your daddy? Because you said a few reeeeally bad words."

Shrugging, the girl replied, "I guess my mommy doesn't know the words are bad, 'cause she always says them when she's yelling."

* * *

"What the hell happened to you?!" Hodges screamed when he saw his normally pale and conservatively clothed co-worker looking tan, gelled, and dressed like a pirate in a big white puffy shirt.

"I was abducted by a makeover team." Cupping his crotch, Henry ambled to the couch. "It was all a blur until the waxing started."

"Waxing? But you don't have any hair on your chest."

"Not my chest." He pointed to his throbbing left sac. "South of the border."

"Nooo." Hodges couldn't even bring himself to imagine it. "That hair is there for a reason," the scientist lectured, "friction. I'd invest in some diaper rash cream, Jack Sparrow."

"Okay, but right now I need an ice pack." Henry winced as he tried to move to a more comfortable position. "I think the spray tan stuff is irritating the waxed area."

Feeling terrible for leaving his depressed friend alone while stinking drunk, Hodges jumped into action. "There's a plastic liner inside our ice bucket, I'll fill that and tie it into an ice pack. If that doesn't work, we'll fill the tub with ice for you to cool off."

* * *

"It's hot here," Chelsea announced while waiting in the line for Heimlich's Chew Train.

"Yeah, it's even hotter in Las Vegas where I live," Greg shared. "It's probably a lot cooler in Minnesota where you live now, huh? Do you like living there?"

"Uh huh," the girl answered while rocking on the heels of her princess sneakers. "Maddie and I have a real bedroom, not just a couch in the living room, and mommy likes it 'cause the bugs don't eat my cereal and cookies."

"Why did bugs eat your cereal and cookies at your old house?" Jenni asked, wondering what she meant exactly.

"Duh! They ate my food 'cause they were hungry."

Slipping into CSI mode, Greg probed, "Were there a lot of bugs in your kitchen?"

Using her fingers as antennas, Chelsea replied, "Roaches. I liked to play with them, but Maddie was scared of 'em, so mommy would take off her shoe and splat them. Mommy said they didn't feel a thing, but I don't know, I think it would hurt lots to get splatted with a shoe. Do you think it would hurt to get splatted?"

_I speak from personal experience when I say yes._ "No, your mommy was right, they didn't feel a thing."

Jenni whispered in her brother's ear, "Do you think she's fascinated with bug stuff because she's been playing with bugs for a year?"

"I'm thinkin' so," Greg spoke under his breath, "how sad is that?"

"We should totally spoil her."

"The line's moving!" Chelsea shrieked, hoping it was finally their turn.

When he saw they would be getting on the ride, Greg lifted his camera. "You two go and I'll stay out here and take pictures." Watching grinning Chelsea rush for a seat, his own lips spread into a smile_. _"Aww." Waving, he yelled, "Smile for a picture, girls!" It was hard to believe that a kid that cute could have such an outrageous scumbag for a father. "Have fun!" It was such a nice change of pace taking pictures of the living. "I'll meet you at the exit!" He snapped photos on the way.

"First time here with your kids?"

When Greg turned around he saw an ancient man wearing a portable oxygen tank. "With my sister and my friend's daughter, yeah. I'm a newlywed, so I don't have any kids yet."

91 year old Larry Goldberg nodded at the young man. "From the looks of it, you have the right stuff."

Realizing he had looked like a competent dad to the stranger, Greg smiled back. "Thanks, we're thinking we'll try for kids in a year or so."

"They keep you young." With a shaky hand, the old man pointed. "Get ready to snap. They're comin' back."

"Thanks." When he saw the girls laughing like lifelong sisters, Greg warmed up to the little girl. "How was it?" he asked, meeting them at the gate.

"We heard him chewing!" Chelsea giggled, "And he burped louder than Grandpa!"

"It was really cute," Jenni added, thoroughly enjoying the big sister experience. "You could smell what he was eating too, like watermelon, and they have water tubes overhead, so you get dripped on."

* * *

"Ugh." When Hodges saw his bag of ice was ripped and leaking, he stopped to see if he could fix it.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Huh?" Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Wendy wearing a spa robe and a look of disbelief. "I'm not gay," he blurted, fearing she'd get turned off, "I'm here spying."

"Spying on whom?" she asked in a whisper while trying not to look conspicuous.

Hodges shook his head at the CSI wannabe. "You, Sherlock. I'm spying on _you_ and your gal pals. It was all Henry's idea, because he couldn't stand to be apart from Mandykins for 48 hours. He snooped and found the name of the resort." Folding his arms across his chest, he shared, "The lesbian thing has very upset him." Cracking a grin, he continued, "I, on the other hand, am completely turned on by your bisexuality, so don't worry, it won't be an obstacle in our ever evolving relationship. I'll even cheer you on from the sidelines if you want me to." He pumped his fist. "Go Girls!" When he received a slap across the face as a reply, he recoiled in shock. "Was it something I said?"

"It was _everything_ you said!" Wendy yelled in his face. "How dare you snoop and spy on me? How dare you call me a lesbian?" Remembering her locale, she shouted toward the busy pool area, "Not that there's anything wrong with being gay!" Turning, she huffed, "I'm out of here."

"Hey, Simms!" Hodges boldly called out, "If caring about you is a crime, I'm willing to take the rap!"

"Wait…did he just say he cared about me?" Wendy turned on her heels, but Hodges was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?"

* * *

"Ready to go to the swimming pool, kiddo?" Standing in the doorway of his hotel room, Greg smiled at Chelsea and then told Mrs. Jorgensen, "We just need to give Jenni a minute, she's still changing. There's some snacks on the table over there if you're hungry, Gidget."

"Snacks!"

While her granddaughter darted off, Mrs. Jorgensen graciously said, "I can't thank you enough for entertaining her today. You really saved the day."

"Honestly, I've been having a blast myself." After tearing through California Adventure for five hours, Greg didn't want the fun to end, so he had suggested taking Chelsea for a swim to burn off more of her seemingly boundless energy. "I met this like 90 year old man while I was waiting for the girls to ride Heimlich's Chew train. He told me that kids keep you young, which I can totally see, but what's really nice is," he paused to add a disclaimer, "forgive me if this sounds a little weird or morbid, but after spending 75 hours a week dealing with the dead, it feels great to run around with a kid who has a huge life force. I totally get why some cops can't wait to go home and play with their children after a tough shift."

* * *

"I'm havin' the best time, girls." Squeezing ketchup onto his burger, Nick asked, "What about you two?"

"This is the best day ever!" Maddie declared, eternally grateful for her new best friend Cassie and the man who had been nicer to her in one morning than her father had been to her in years. "Thank you for letting me come with you."

"Aww, you're welcome, honey." Nick winked at Cassie, "It's been great for us to have you along too, 'cause it's fun for Cass to pal around with a friend around her age rather than to just be with me."

"We're gonna email each other when we get home and stay friends forever." Maddie nudged her new buddy. "Right?"

"Yep." Cassie nodded as she chomped a French fry. "And if she's ever in Las Vegas, I told her she can come to my house to play and swim."

* * *

"I'm not going to swim," Jenni whispered to Greg as they placed their towels and belongings on lounge chairs. "Everyone will stare at my scars if I take off my yoga pants. I'm just going to read and watch you and Chelsea."

"Are you sure?" Greg gently pushed the issue. "You're not alone in the scar department when you're with me and once you're in the water no one will see your legs anyway."

"Maybe later." She took a seat on the lounge chair and asked, "Do you need help putting on your swimmies, Chelsea?" The little girl was struggling to get the second one on.

"Why do you need those?" the California boy, who had learned to swim when he was two, queried.

"I don't know how to swim without 'em."

Bending down in front of the flower bikini-clad girl, Greg explained, "Floaties just make it harder to learn how to swim the right way. How about we leave them here and I give you some swim lessons instead?"

"I don't wanna drown."

"He won't let you drown," Jenni assured the skeptic. "He helps people every day and he saved my life, remember?" She had told the girl a watered-down version of her accident story. "Trust him, you'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay," the five year old grumbled as she dropped her floaties. "But my mommy is gonna be really mad at you if I drown."

Tossing his t-shirt, Greg chuckled, "Believe me, I don't want your mommy yelling at me, so I'll be extra careful. I bet I can have you swimming in an hour."

"Hey, Greg, those girls at the pool bar are checking you out." Jenni laughed, "Little do they know."

"Where were all these girls when I was single?" Shaking his head, Greg kicked off his flip flops. "Okay, Gidget, let's hit the water. Do you know how to jump off the side into someone's arms?"

Chelsea stuffed her hands on her hips. "Nope."

"Do you know how to put your head underwater and blow bubbles?"

"Nope."

"What do you know how to do in the water?"

"I know how to stand on the third step and float with my floaties," she proudly shared. "I've never been off the stairs."

Jenni grinned behind her magazine. _Good luck teaching her how to swim in an hour, Bro!_

"We'll start with something real easy then." Greg hopped into the water and lifted his arms to pluck Chelsea from the deck. "A piggie back ride across the pool while you kick your feet."

When she heard choking noises, Jenni peered around her magazine. "Not so tight around his neck, sweetie! You're choking him."

"I'm holding tight 'cause I'm scared!"

* * *

"I think I have Elephantitis of the nuts," Henry frantically whispered as he tried to shake Hodges from slumber. "My left one is bright red and five times its normal size."

"What time is it?" Hodges grumbled.

"4 pm."

"We're nocturnal creatures," the irritated friend moaned, "we're supposed to be asleep at 4pm. Go to sleep."

"I would," Henry whimpered, "if my left nut wasn't throbbing. I think need to go an Urgent Care place or something."

Hodges opened one eye. "You're really going to walk into a medical facility and ask them to check out your shaved and inflamed ball?"

"If the choice is that or go infertile, yes! If I can't make Mandy pregnant again in the future, she'll dump me for sure."

"You breeders drive me crazy." Ready to be a good friend yet again, Hodges flipped back his bedding. "Life was more peaceful when I was a loner."

"But was it more fun?"

* * *

"Again! Again!" Chelsea squealed while hurrying up the steps. "One more jump."

"You said one more jump twenty jumps ago, Gidge." Greg readied to catch her again. "One more."

"Did my daughter just jump into the water?!" Lacey asked as she rushed to get to the pool's edge. "Wait…where did they go?"

"Underwater," Jenni answered, giving the woman the once over. _Ugh, she's wearing a sexy, short cover-up over what I'm sure is a teeny, tiny bikini. Fat chance, lady! My brother won't give you the time of day_. "She jumps, they both go underwater, and then she surfaces and kicks to the steps. They've done it dozens of times already."

"Oh my god, she's really swimming!" The mother beamed with pride. "Greg taught her to swim in an hour?"

"In about twenty minutes," the proud sister replied. "He's a great guy with a lot of talents, so I'm not surprised." _And you cheated on him, you sleazy witch. Ha! Your loss, Nick's gain._

"Thank you, Greg!" Lacey yelled toward her ex-fiancé as he rubbed water from his eyes. "I can't believe she's swimming!" She also couldn't believe how fantastic Greg looked wet and topless.

Jenni's disgust grew as she watched the loser leer at her brother's biceps and newly acquired six pack.

"How's your hand?" Greg flatly asked, the CSI in him not believing the bullshit story he had been told. "Looks pretty serious from the bandaging." _Shit, I hope she doesn't think I care because I asked._

The inquiry told Lacey her Ex still cared. "Dozen stitches. I'll be fine. My pride hurts more than my hand, because my father has been lecturing me since it happened."

_What a shameless plea for sympathy!_ Rolling her eyes, Jenni counted the seconds until the she-devil came up with a reason to drop her cover-up.

"Mommy!" Chelsea was thrilled to see her mother poolside. "I can swim!"

"I know! I saw!" Lacey opened her arms. "I'm so proud of you. It was so nice of Greg to teach you." When her drenched daughter hugged her, she laughed, "Uh oh, you just got mommy soaked, Chels."

_Maybe you should drop your cover-up and let it dry in the sun._ Jenni gaped when she saw blondie had a picture-perfect body and a teenier bikini than she had imagined._ I'm gonna hurl if the Ho leans over and flashes her boobs at him. _

_Whoa. If she had that body back in college, I never would have agreed to wait until marriage._ Living up to his reputation as a solid three on the Kinsey scale, Greg's gaze gravitated toward his ex's cleavage.

"Watch me jump!" Chelsea took off without warning.

"Greg!" Jenni shouted, hoping to get his attention before the kid landed on the side of his face. "Too late." _But that's what you get for being distracted by big boobs!_

"Is she okay?" Lacey hurried to the stairs.

"She's fine, just rattled." Greg choked out water as he clutched the frightened child and made his way toward the stairs. "I'm not so sure about my nose, I think her knee plowed right into it."

"I've got her towel!" Jenni went to the edge to wait for her. "Come here, sweetie."

After placing Chelsea on the stairs, Greg asked, "Am I bleeding?"

"Tilt your head back," Lacey instructed as she stepped deeper into the water. "I don't see any blood." She gently pressed on his nose. "Does it hurt when I do that?"

"Not really, but my pain threshold has gone up recently."

Jenni felt compelled to add, "Nearly getting beaten to death because you sacrificed your safety to save an innocent man's life will do that to a guy."

"What?" Noting the scattered scars on her ex's previously unmarred body, Lacey said, "I know you saved Jenni, but you almost died saving a man too? When did that happen?"

"Last fall, but I really don't like talking about it, so…watch out!" He grabbed his Ex just as three teenage boys came rushing for the stairs. "I didn't want your bandages to get wet."

Unexpectedly in her ex's arms again, Lacey batted her eyelashes. "You really are good at saving people." Giggling, she glided her palm over his bicep. "Your arms a lot stronger than I remember."

If it wasn't for Chelsea being in her arms, Jenni would have told off the shameless flirt. "Hey, Greg! I bet you can get some ice for your nose at the bar."

"Great idea." After returning Lacey safely to the stairs, he hurried to his lounge chair for a towel.

"Mom!" Maddie yelled on approach. "Are you feeling better?! I want you to meet my new friend Cassie!" Grabbing her pal's hand, she rushed forward.

"You guys are back, cool." Finished toweling off, Greg hurried over to his partner. "How was your day, Cletus?"

Still trying to cope with the image of Greg holding his ex-fiancée in the pool, Nick could only nod.

Forgetting his plans to find ice, Greg whispered, "I'm really glad you're back, because I need to talk to you about something."

"About what?" Nick asked, masking his emotions.

"Let's get somewhere private first, okay?"

"Somewhere private?"

"It's not really something I want to tell you in public," Greg quietly explained.

"Oh." His paranoia intensifying, Nick's heart rate soared. "Yeah, sure, okay. Cass! You stay out of the water and with Jenni until we get back, okay?"

"I'll keep an eye on them!" Lacey offered, feeling obligated to give something back after the men had generously cared for her daughters all day.

"Awesome!" Greg smiled at his Ex. "Thanks."

"No problem." Trying not to imagine the two guys having a quickie, Lacey giggled, "Take all the time you need."

The sight of the ex-lovers smiling and giggling in each other's direction sent Nick's blood into a boil and his stomach into knots. "Let's go."

"I found a shortcut to our room."

"Great."

Greg pointed. "This way."

Nick followed in silence.

* * *

"OW!" Henry shrieked when the stodgy old doctor prodded his privates with a gloved hand. "Is it an infection? Is it serious? Will I lose my fertility?"

"No." Snapping off his latex gloves, Dr. Carlson said, "It's an allergic reaction to either the wax or the spray tanner. You'll make a full recovery."

Henry collapsed on the exam room table. "You saved my life."

* * *

"You're killin' me with the suspense here." Too unnerved to sit, Nick paced the living room of their suite. "What the hell is goin' on?"

"Sorry." Trying to find the right words, Greg rambled, "It's crazy, and I know you're going to be upset, but…it's like I woke up this morning thinking one way and after seven hours with Chelsea, I feel completely different. I'm serious, I'm not the same guy I was this morning. I know I said I would never change my mind and I meant it when I said it, but now…after today." He gulped, "I'm sorry, but I can't go through with it, Cletus." When he didn't get a reaction, he prodded, "How upset are you? You look mad. No, you looked pissed, really pissed. I'm sorry, I know you were really counting on…"

"Damn right I was counting on you to keep your promise!" Nick rushed to put distance between them. "I can't believe you're sayin' this!"

"I'm sorry," Greg pleaded with his tone and eyes, "I didn't know how strongly I would feel until I…"

"Until you had her in your arms?!"

"No, before that." Greg clarified, "It started when I was taking pictures of her on Heimlich's Chew Train, but it really it hit me hard when we were playing hide and go seek in the playland."

"You were playin' hide and go seek with Lacey in the…"

"Lacey?" Greg laughed, "If I played with her, I'd conveniently forget to do the 'seek' part of the game. I was playing with Chelsea. I was being a dad, a great one." Even though he was in trouble for going back on his word, he couldn't stop smiling. "Until today I didn't think I had the right stuff, but I do. I even taught the kid to swim in twenty minutes!" Beaming with excitement, he asked, "Even though I'm changing my mind, aren't you happy for me?"

"You want to be Chelsea's dad and I'm supposed to be happy?" Nick asked in disbelief, "Am I supposed think this is a noble sacrifice? Cassie may think I'm a saint, but I'm not. I'm not gonna look you in the eyes and say 'great, your life will be far less complicated if you marry your ex, have your ass kissed by in-laws who worship you, and be an instant daddy to two great kids instead of bein' with me and gettin' dirty looks, no respect from most of my family, and needin' outside help to have a baby'!"

"Is **that **what you think I'm saying?!" Greg exclaimed in shock. "That I want to throw everything away and pick up where I left off with Lacey? How can you think that?!"

"Because I saw you playin' in the pool with Lacey! If her tits had been any closer to your face…"

"Is **that** why you were acting so weird by the pool?! I thought you were just tired!"

"I…"

"I caught Lacey when she got knocked off her feet on the pool stairs, because I didn't want her bandages to get wet! I don't have feelings for her! If you had just bothered to ask…" Completely deflated, Greg said, "No, I don't want to be Chelsea's stepfather. What I was excited to tell you was - after spending the day acting like a dad, I realized I want to have a baby with **you**, not the lesbians. I was trying to tell you that I want us to go the surrogate route with Tawny, because I'm not afraid to be a dad anymore. I felt bad because I was backing out of the co-parenting decision when I said I wouldn't. I wasn't backing out of our marriage. I walked in here ecstatic about **our** future. I couldn't wait to tell you how much I was looking forward to bringing** our** kid here one day."

"Oh." Feeling horrible for jumping to an insane conclusion, Nick flustered, "I'm uh…I'm feelin' a little ridiculous all of a sudden."

"Yeah?" Staring at his wedding ring, Greg said, "Well suddenly I'm feeling a little pissed off." He marched for the door. "How great is this?! I'm pissed off at the happiest place on Earth!"

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think a guy who would cheat and throw over his mate would go?! Pirates of the Caribbean!" Greg threw open the door. "I'm going to commune with my cad brethren!"

"G!" The sound of the door slamming made Nick jump. "Dammit!"

* * *

**AN:**

I know it's pretty uncommon for there to be any family tension or fighting at Disneyland, but…ha! Every time we go I witness a family nearly strangling each other. Who thinks Greg will actually make it to Pirates of the Caribbean? Who thinks he won't even make it to the elevator? Who thinks the chapter title 'Yo Ho, Yo Ho' is a reference to Lacey not just the Pirate ride? LOL

Alternative reality trivia question - do Dante, Dan Ellis, Matt Hawkins and Todd Stanton seem familiar to anyone?

Thanks to KJT for editing quickly for me.

Sorry for the extra long delay on this chapter. We had a round of illness through the family and then I had to catch up on everything that slid while we were sidelined. Thankfully it's heating up here and the germ season is about over!

Thanks for the feedback on the last one. I really appreciated hearing everyone's thoughts on Lacey and Greg confrontation.

I don't have a date for the next chapter, but I'll do my best to get it out much quicker. Thanks!

Maggs


	36. Chapter 36: When You Wish Upon a Star

**AN: This is a revised version posted a few hours after the original. It contains several paragraphs of new material. **

**The Day Before You  
****Written by: Ms. Maggs / Edited by: KJT**

**Chapter 36: When You Wish Upon a Star**

Flopping onto their cushy hotel bed, Greg chuckled, "After two and half days of non-stop Disney fun, I don't think I have enough energy left to kiss you, Cletus." Closing his eyes, the joyous and loud sounds of the day echoed in his head. "I think I want to take a nap too."

"C'mon, don't tell me Peter Pan is getting too old for Disneyland," Nick elbowed his husband in the ribs. "Say it isn't so."

"I feel like I just pulled three doubles."

"Technically you did," Nick laughed. "I think you're lettin' this birthday go to your head, G….and your body." Loving every second of their family vacation, he said, "Yeah, I'm as exhausted as I would be at work, but I'm a hell of a lot happier." Snuggling close, he closed his eyes. "But I'm always happy when I'm at Disneyland with you."

"Except the first time we were here." Recalling the drama, Greg opened his eyes. "When we had that ridiculous fight over Lacey. Remember that?"

"Now I do." It was hard to believe only seven years had passed, because it felt like a lifetime ago. "I was worried that you were gonna dump me and run off to play daddy with your Ex and her kids."

"While I was trying to tell you how much I wanted to play daddy to our own kids." Grinning, the exhausted 40 year old, said, "If I had known how tired I would be playing daddy, I would have run off with a pool lifeguard that day we argued."

"You don't mean that."

"Nope." Greg caressed a tender kiss over his spouse's lips. "I wouldn't trade my life for anything, not even twelve hours of uninterrupted…"

"Pappa…"

"…sleep." Greg propped up on his elbows to smile at their daughter who had just turned six a few weeks ago. "What's goin' on, Princess Haleigh?" She was still wearing the Cinderella outfit Nana Jan had specially made for the trip.

Her long blond curls bouncing as she skipped into the room, Haleigh said, "It hurts to sleep with my hair in pony tails." After pouncing onto the bed, she scooted between her fathers. "Sorry, but I can't take a nap."

Nick gently tugged on his daughter's left ponytail. "Sweetie, how about we take out the pony tails so you can rest for a couple of hours and then we'll redo 'em before we meet your grandparents and aunts for dinner?"

"I'm six now. I'm too old for naps."

"I want a nap!" Greg laughed. "And I'm waaaaay older than you, munchkin."

The imaginative child replied, "So why don't you pretend you're four like Garrett and sleep in the other bedroom with him while I'll stay in here and watch TV." She snatched the remote. "We need to catch up on the day's sports scores anyway, right Daddy?" At home they snuggled on the couch and watched Sportscenter almost daily.

Nick smiled at the sweetheart who was a carbon copy of Greg with the exception of having Tawny's hair and athleticism. "Always thinkin' up a plan, aren't ya?"

"A brain is a terrible thing to waste," she deadpanned.

"Isn't that cute?" Greg chuckled. "I said that and now she keeps telling other people. Grissom told me she said it when she was over there playing with Erin. He thought it was a gas." The proud father scooped up their daughter into his arms. "C'mon, I'm gonna brush out your ponytails so you're comfy and then you can watch cartoons on the couch. That way you won't wake your little brother or daddy and me. If you happen to get sleepy watching the Disney Channel, you can take nap."

"Okay," she agreed without hesitation, "but I bet I don't get sleepy."

"That's a sucker bet, G, don't take it." Nick crashed back onto the pillows. "She'll be wakin' us up just like yesterday and the day before."

"Yep." Greg popped into the bathroom to get Haleigh's hairbrush and his nail clippers before heading out to the main room of the suite.

"Don't cut my hair when you clip my hair bands."

Sitting his daughter on the couch, Greg comically exaggerated his reply. "What?! What did you just say?! Have I** ever** cut your hair when I snip your hair bands?"

"No," she giggled.

"That's right." After pulling out her hair bows, he quickly clipped both of the plastic bands. "I'm the man when it comes to hair. I brush, I comb, I braid, I even French braid. You're in good hands, Missy. Pfft. Snow White and Cinderella **wish** they had me around to do their hair." After a minute of brushing, he kissed the top of Haleigh's head. "You're all set. I'll go grab your pillow and blanket from your bedroom."

"And my Pooh bear!" Remembering her brother was sleeping, the responsible big sister lowered her voice to a whisper, "Sorry for yelling."

"Don't worry, he won't wake up. Upon entering bedroom, Greg checked on Garrett. "You and your daddy sleep like rocks when you're exhausted." Smiling, he affectionately ran his fingers through the little jock's dark brown hair. "And you both drool." With his new buzz cut, the boy looked exactly like Nick in his childhood photos.

* * *

Staring at the poster of Greg's childhood pictures that Cassie and Dave had made, Jan's eyes welled. "I can't believe my baby is forty."

"He doesn't act forty." Putting a few finishing touches on the poster she was making, Jenni said, "What I can't believe is that the forensics genius hasn't figured out we're throwing him a big surprise party."

"Maybe his investigative skills are slipping now that he's been out of the field for four years, two months and six days…not that I'm counting." Jan's cheeriness momentarily gave way to melancholy. "It seems like yesterday though, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Jenni's smile faded as she recalled her adoptive mother's hysteria upon hearing that Warrick Brown and two police officers had been killed in a drive-by shooting only minutes after her brother had left their side at the scene. Suddenly the memory of Jan on her knees begging Greg to quit his job popped in her head and she could hear her sobbing and telling him that Haleigh would be devastated if she had to grow up without her father. Next came the image of her terrified brother crying and nodding as he clutched his daughter. "It was the right decision."

"Yes, it was a win-win for all. Just look at what Greg's accomplished in four years," the proud mother said, trying to shift her mind off somber thoughts. "He went from Lead Tech to DNA Lab Manager in record time." She never missed an opportunity to tell friends and strangers that her boy was in charge of the second most sophisticated DNA lab in the country, the first belonging to the Feds. "Did he tell you he's going to be a keynote speaker at the big forensics conference next month?"

"No, but you did twice." Jenni hugged her mom tight. "I hope I can make you half as proud one day."

"Oh, honey, you already have." The loving mother stroked her daughter's hair. "A 4.0 going into your senior year at Stanford." She winked. "Gregory only had a 3.8."

"I know." The competitive brainiac rubbed her hands together. "I can't wait to shove my grade report in his face when I get it. I really hope Cassie will change her mind about Stanford, because Greg would be really ticked if both of us did better than him."

"She won't change her mind. She only applied to Stanford and UCLA so we'd get off her back." Her frustration over her daughter's decision behind her, Jan calmly said, "Even though Nicky practically ordered her to go, she refuses to be away from him. When she was 13 she said she wanted to go to college at UNLV and work at the Lab, and she's never changed her mind, so I believe her." Sighing, she added, "Honestly, it's a blessing, because Haleigh and Garrett are used to having their Aunt Cassie in their lives full time."

"Maybe I should come home and go to UNLV for medical school." When her Stanford-obsessed mother shot her a death glare, Jenni laughed, "Just kidding, I love Stanford and Sean Blake way too much to come home, not that I don't love you guys too."

"I can't thank Carrie enough for introducing you to her sweet, scholarly nephew." If ever there was a guy who wouldn't recklessly get a girl pregnant, it was respectful and responsible Sean. "He's such a nice young man."

"He's a big time geek, mom, you can say it."

"Hey, I gave birth to a big time geek, so you know I approve of you dating one."

"The Grissoms are in the parking lot!" Cassie cheered as she rushed out of the bedroom. "They just called my cell. They were worried about getting caught if they checked in, but I told them Nick is making sure Greg stays in the suite until the party later. They also wanted me to tell you that the Board meeting at the Warrick Brown Community Center ran long and Catherine and Jim missed their flight. They're trying to get on the next one."

"Thank you, honey." Jan picked up the guest list to check off 'Gil, Sara, and Erin'. "Mandy called earlier and said one of the twins had an earache so Henry was going to take him to the doctor for a quick check before they left. Wendy and Hodges got in yesterday because they had some kind of crazy Star Trek convention they wanted to go to."

"If you ask me they're a little over the top with the Trekkie stuff." Laughing, Cassie peered at the list. "Bobby and Roy are driving out with Carrie, Jean and their kids and should get her within the hour." She turned to her sister. "Hey did you hear Carrie's pregnant with number three?"

Jenni stopped color her poster. "Really?"

"Yes," Jan caught up her daughter on the latest news, "With Peyton turning six and Connor going to kindergarten in the fall, Carrie got a nasty case of empty nest syndrome. With Roy consumed with his medical internship this year and residency on the horizon, Bobby has plenty of time to play daddy, so he decided the third time would be a charm. She's eleven weeks tomorrow."

"Good for them," Jenni smiled, remembering how devastated Carrie initially was when Nick turned her down. "They seemed so happy at Christmas."

"They are, and the kids are adorable. I ask Carrie, Jean, and Bobby to speak at PFLAG meetings with me all the time, because if there ever was a model for co-parenting success, it's them. Roy comes sometimes too, but his schedule is crazy. I'm taking them to a meeting in La Brea tomorrow as a matter of fact."

"Cool. Now answer my other burning question – what time is Tawny's hot doctor boyfriend getting here?" Jenni was anxious to meet her big sister's much-lauded beau. Originally she was to meet him at Christmas, but on the day she was to arrive, the good doctor was asked to join an emergency medical team responding to a crisis in Africa." "I want to see if he's as studly as he is in photos."

"He is," Jan and Cassie chimed before breaking into laughter.

"All the gays think he's hot," Jan joked, "and you know how picky they are. Roy said even though he's told all his fellow interns that Manny is madly in love with Tawny, some of them still get tongue-tied whenever Dr. McHottie conducts rounds with them."

"Tawny and Manny have known each other about ten months now," Cassie said while tying ribbons on party favors, "and he's taking her to New Mexico for his cousin's wedding next weekend and he's going to introduce her to his parents. That means he's totally serious. Do you think he'll pop the question soon, Mom?"

Jan snickered, "If you swear on your trust funds not to blab, I'll answer that question."

"Promise!" the sisters replied without hesitation.

"Tonight during the Disneyland fireworks."

"No way!" Cassie couldn't contain her excitement. "I didn't think it would be this soon."

"Well, originally he was going to wait until for her birthday, but he told your father and me that he wanted to introduce Tawny as his fiancée, not his girlfriend. He's anticipating that his parents are going to be more than a little disturbed by some aspects of Tawny's life story, specifically her decision to conceive and carry two babies for Greg and Nick. He warned us that his parents are very conservative Catholics who were actively involved in the campaign against the national Gay Marriage legislation that passed last year. So before he explains everything to them, he wants them to understand that he's already set on marrying Tawny."

Jenni huffed, "They'll probably be those kind of people who don't get emotional or outraged when they find out Tawny was raped by her mother's boyfriend and kicked out of her home at sixteen to fend for herself, but they go nuts when they hear she chose to bring two babies into this world for a happily married gay couple."

"It's ridiculous, I know." The frustrated mother and PFLAG President said, "The people who get the most disgusted with Tawny are always the ones who protest abortion and talk about protecting children from abuse."

"I get the most ticked at the ones who assume she only did it because she was strapped for cash." Jenni rolled her eyes. "Like it wouldn't be easier for someone as attractive as Tawny to make money without going through nine months of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth. When I tell the judgmental jerks that she used her compensation money to get a college degree and go to law school so she can put scumbags behind bars and keep them away from innocent children, some of the bastards have the nerve to reply 'if she really cared about children she wouldn't be letting queers raise her babies'."

"If Manny's parents say that to her face..."

"Hey!" Cassie interjected, knowing exactly how riled Jan and 'Mini-Jan' Jenni could get when set off about gay rights and surrogate mothers. "Let's stick to happy thoughts today."

* * *

"Tell me the story of the day I was born," Haleigh requested as she snuggled her blankie on the couch.

"You're not bored of that one yet?" Greg replied, taking a seat on the floor in front of her.

"Nope. That one and the one about my first birthday party are my favorites. You should write a book about those stories instead of writing another one on Las Vegas. We could do it together. You can type the words, and I can draw the pictures. Daddy says my drawings are awesome, that's why he always asks if he can take them to work." She was counting the days until she was old enough to get an LVPD guest pass and take a tour of the Lab she heard so much about. "What does he do with them at work? I hope he doesn't throw them away like Lexie's mom does when she thinks Lexie isn't looking."

"Are you kidding?" Criss-crossing his heart, Greg said, "I swear Supervisor Stokes has every one of your beautiful pictures and Garrett's scribbles hanging up on the side wall of his office. He also has ones from Cassie and every picture or thank you card any kid has ever made for him. Whenever he's sad or angry at work because of a bad guy, he stares at the wall of pictures to cheer himself up. I do too. A lot of people do, your artwork is kinda famous actually. And whenever we have a child witness or victim there, Daddy brings them to his office because seeing your wall of pictures makes the place a lot less scary."

"He really does that?"

"Yep, first he shows them the photos of you and Garrett that he has on his desk, so they know he's a dad who likes children. After that, he shows them the wall and talks about how he loves drawing pictures with his kids. Then he puts a stack of paper and a bucket of crayons on a table in the office and says 'let's color'. Eventually he gets them to draw a picture of the bad guy or the bad thing that happened to them, which is cool, because drawing about bad stuff is a lot easier for kids than talking about it. Daddy gets them to tell the whole story before they even know they did."

"Daddy's really good at his job, huh."

"Yeah." Greg sweetly ruffled his daughter's hair. "That's one of the reasons I fell in love with him."

"I bet Daddy would love our book with your words and my drawings, 'cause he could read it to scared kids. Can't you stop writing the Las Vegas book and…"

"Sweetie, I know you hate it when I go in my office to write and put the 'do not disturb' sign on my door, but the thing is, those books make money for our family." Trying to make her understand, he said, "A check from my publisher paid for that cruise you loved last year."

"Oh." After pondering the information for a moment, she said, "So you mean we can't go on another cruise if you don't write another book? That's okay, camping is fun too."

"No, it's not!" he laughed. "Anyway, I have to finish the third book, because the project is a series of three stories and it won't be complete if I don't do part three. Nobody likes an unfinished story. Wouldn't you be bummed if Cinderella ended before the prince found her?" While she nodded, he said, "As soon as I'm done with the series, I** promise** we'll write a book together."

"Deal…but write fast."

"I'll do my very best." Hoping to soothe her into a nap, he began rhythmically stroking her long blond locks. "Once upon a time your Daddy and I were waaaaaaaaay out in the desert working with our friends Sara and Grissom. We were all very, very sad because this bad guy we had been trying to catch for months had hurt more people that night, including a mommy with a baby in her tummy. While we were working really hard trying to find clues like footprints and strands of hair that would tell us who the bad guy was and how to find him, it suddenly started to rain buckets. That made us angry, because we knew all the clues would be washed away before we could find them and the bad guy would probably have time to hurt more innocent people."

"But he was caught while I was being borned and is rotting up in jail for life!"

"Hey, don't skip ahead to the future while we're in the middle of the story." Greg laughed, "That only worked well for LOST."

"Lost?"

"It was a TV series that was on from 2004 to 2010. You can watch the DVDs with Daddy and me when you're older. Now where was I?"

"It just started to rain."

"Right. As we were working in the rain getting wetter and sadder, my cell phone rang. I expected it to be someone from work, but when I answered it, I heard my mom saying the best words ever."

"Do the Nana Jan crazy voice!"

"Of course." Greg did a perfect imitation of his hysteria-prone mother. "The baby is coming! The baby is coming! Hurry! We'll meet you and Nicky at Desert Palms! I can't believe I'm going to be a grandma! Drive carefully, Gregory!"

"Yep, that's the voice."

"I closed the phone and shouted 'Tawny's having the baby!' Everyone started yelling and cheering. Daddy went crazy and rushed forward to hug me, but the ground was slippery from the rain, so he ended up sliding and tackling me. Bam! Before I knew what happened, I landed in a giant mud puddle on my butt and Daddy fell on top of me. Thud!" That part always made her giggle.

"I can't wait to draw the picture of you getting splatted."

"And I can't wait to see it," he replied before continuing. "The Grissoms helped us to our feet as Captain Brass yelled 'I'll drive you to the hospital!' which was great, because we were too nervous and excited to drive carefully and he had a police siren and permission to go real fast. The whole way there we were trying to guess if you would be a boy or a girl. We bet on everything - the color of your eyes, your weight, how many inches you would be." He silently laughed at the memory of Jim betting him a c-note that Nick's jock sperm had won the fertilization race. "Daddy was sure you were going to be a boy, but I was certain we were having a girl."

"I'm glad I wasn't borned a boy, because then there wouldn't be any girls in our house."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have any hair to braid."

"You could still braid Sugar's mane," the pony lover reminded her father.

"We probably wouldn't have a pretty pony named Sugar if we had two boys."

"Oh, right."

"When we got to the hospital, Daddy and I were so anxious to see your Aunt Tawny that we forgot we were wet, muddy, and wearing our LVPD jackets and ball caps. As we ran through the lobby and down the hall, everyone freaked out thinking we were chasing a bad guy through the hospital. Alarms sounded, the front doors locked, and security came running, because they worried a baby napping was in progress."

"That's gonna be a funny picture too. Kinda like the one where everyone is running through the hospital to catch Curious George on the runaway wheelchair."

"It was exactly like that actually," he chuckled. "After we cleared everything up with the security and the police, we** finally** got to see Aunt Tawny. Thanks to a special shot called an epidural, she was feeling great and she looked radiant, like a beautiful princess. When she saw me and your Daddy rush into the room breathless and worried, she started to cry and she told us 'I can't wait to do this for you', which made us and Aunt Jenni, Aunt Cassie and Grandpa and Nana cry too."

"Then Nana Jan yelled at you for being too dirty to be around a baby."

"Yeah. Thankfully a nice nurse felt gave us scrubs and showed us where we could take a hot shower."

"And you were sooooo worried that you'd miss me being borned, that you took the fastest shower of your life."

"That's right." Grinning, he tapped her button nose with his finger. "But we could have taken a six hour shower and not missed a thing. When the doctor **finally** said it was time for Aunt Tawny to push you out..."

"You forgot to say what you did while you were waiting for me to pop out."

"Oops." He filled in the blank. "First we watched the The Wizard of Oz for good luck, just like we did on the day you started to grow inside Aunt Tawny's tummy. After that we played Monopoly until she yelled 'get the doctor! The baby is coming!"

"Yay!"

"While the doctor was washing her hands and putting on gloves to catch you, Daddy took Aunt Tawny's left hand and I took her right. We knew the pushing part might hurt a little, so we kissed her on the cheek and thanked her in advance for being so special and brave." He wisely chose to skip over the thirty minutes of hardcore pushing that made Tawny frantically cry for her deceased father; the scary moment when a nurse said the baby's heart rate was plummeting; his mother panicking that her grandchild was going to be stillborn just like her two daughters had been; and the gruesome episiotomy that Cassie watched with great curiosity until she vomited all over the floor. "One giiiiiiiiiant push and we heard the doctor yell 'it's a girl!'"

"A girl baby covered in icky goo," she giggled, remembering how gross she looked in the photos taken by her Grandpa.

"Yeah, but even covered in icky goo you were the most beautiful thing we had **ever** seen." He paused to place a tender kiss on her forehead. "When you cried for the very first time…" He always choked up thinking of his mother dropping to her knees to thank God for her granddaughter being born alive and well. "Everyone in the room cheered when they heard you wailing. Daddy and I hugged Aunt Tawny tight and together we cried huge tears of incredible joy." Caressing his daughter's cheek, he smiled, "Then the nurse wrapped you in a blankie and placed you on Aunt Tawny's chest. It was the most thrilling moment of our lives, and just as Daddy reached out to hold your teeny tiny right hand, I slipped my finger into your itty bitty left hand."

"And I grabbed it!" Haleigh snatched her father's pointer finger. "Then I looked into your eyes."

"And with your eyes you said," he mimicked a baby girl voice, "'Hi! Are you the goofy guy who's been singing silly songs to me for nine months or the one with the accent who has been talking about football, ponies, and good nutrition?"

"No." Her reply was momentarily interrupted by a yawn. "I was saying, 'being born made me hungry. Somebody feed me."

"You're probably right," Greg teased, "because you stopped yelling as soon as I stuffed a bottle in your big mouth." When he saw Haleigh yawn a third time, he stroked her hair and whispered, "That will always be one of the best days of my life, along with my wedding day, your brother's birthday, the first time your daddy said he loved me, and the day I didn't die."

"And while you were feeding me my first bottle, Daddy got a phone call saying Sara caught the bad guy." Her eyes closing, Haleigh dreamily said, "I love happy endings."

"Doesn't everyone?" After brushing a kiss over his daughter's cheek Greg stood and returned to the bedroom. "Believe it or not, she's asleep." When he didn't get a reply, he chuckled, "And so are you. How is everyone asleep but me when I was the one who was desperate for a nap?" Shaking his head, he climbed into bed and burrowed into his husband's arms. "Mmm." Ready to welcome the Sandman, he closed his eyes.

"Pappa…"

_No! _Greg opened his eyes, hoping he had imagined their son's voice. "Hey, Rett. What's going on?"

"I'm done napping."

"What a coincidence." The exhausted father had to laugh. "I'm done napping too."

"Wanna play pirates with me?" The four and a half year old brandished the sword his grandpa had given him that morning.

"Sure."

"Wait…do you know how to play pirates, Pappa?"

"Believe it or not, kiddo, before you and Haleigh were born, I used to play pirates with your Daddy all the time." Greg smiled at his fond memories of Captain Jack role play adventures and outrageous booty jokes. "Yeah, we were quite the Swashbucklers back in the days before you and your sister came along." Standing up, he took their son by the hand and led him out of the room. "But for the record, Daddy and I like the days after you guys were born even more."

"Me too."

"Wanna go across the hall and make Nana Jan walk the plank?"

"Arrrrrrrr!" Garrett raised his sword. "Then she can't tell us what to do anymore!"

At times like these Greg found it hard to believe the boy didn't have an ounce of his DNA. "Arrrrrr!" He yelled, dashing into the hallway. "This way, ya scurvy lad!"

The pirate wannabe knocked on his grandparents' door with his giant plastic sword and when his Nana answered he yelled, "We're here to make you walk the plank! Arrrrrr! Get her, Pappa!"

"No!" Jenni shouted when she saw the guest of honor dash into the living room full of party supplies, place cards, and photo posters.

"What's going on?" the birthday boy asked, as the answer became increasingly obvious.

"Where's Nicky?" Jan snarled, "He's supposed to be keeping you in your suite until 6:30 so the surprise party wouldn't be ruined."

"Doh." Greg knew his husband was a dead man. "He fell asleep."

Jan rolled her eyes. "I give him **one** job!"

"Run for it, Matey!" Greg grabbed his son's hand and dashed for the door. "We need to warn Daddy he's in trouble!"

"It's going to take more than two pirate-wannabes to save Captain Snooze's booty!" Jan half-joked.

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!" Garrett shouted while running into the bedroom waving his sword. "Nana Jan is comin' for you!"

Startled from slumber, the confused man bolted up in bed. "What's wrong?! What's going on?!"

"Don't hurt him, Mommy!" Greg dove onto the bed in front of his clueless husband. "He didn't mean to fall asleep and ruin the surprise party by not keeping me in the room!"

"Oh, sh…" Nick covered his gaping mouth. "Sorry, Jan."

Watching his loving-but-crazy mother yell at his groveling husband while Garrett jumped up and down on the bed waving his sword and singing 'Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me', Greg laughed, "I love the party so far! Yeah, let's do this every year!"

And they all lived happily ever after…most of the time.

The End

* * *

**ANs:**

This "sudden flash forward" conclusion to the story was inspired by LOST Season 3, Episode 22 'Through the Looking Glass'.

I intended to write a third, shorter book in 'The Rascal Flatts Series' called Here (after the Rascal Flatts song by the same name of course. Look up the lyrics of that song if you want to get a feel for what the theme was going to be.) If I have time and the itch to write, I'll fill in some blanks through flashbacks and tell more of the story from this '7 years in the future' point. I will post new installments under the title Here as stand alone chapters.

If there was something left unanswered that you have to know feel free to ask. I'll do my best to fill in the blank.

If you want to receive an alert about any future writing, you can add me to your Author Alert list on or join the Yahoo alert list (the link is at the end of every chapter posted on my website).

For LOM readers – I thought Jenni would be the perfect girl for Sean Blake! And I could totally see Dr. Manny Ortiz putting his Ladies Man past behind him and falling for Tawny. I hope you could too.

Thank you for reading and your support along the way!

Thanks to my hubby and Veronica10 for happily pre-reading and a huge thanks to KJT for editing all 300,000 words with a cyber smile!

**Take care,  
****Maggs **

**P.S. I intend to finish LOM too. **


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